SACAA Annual Report 2022_23

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regional cooperation missions within the SADC region as well as other sub-Saharan States, were conducted during the reporting period. South Africa has also been cooperating and contributing in terms of assistance, capacity building, and training on the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) programme to recipient States since 2018. Furthermore, South Africa was a vital part of the 41st International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) General Assembly, when the Assembly agreed on net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 in support of the UNFCCC Paris Agreement’s temperature goal; as part of the long-term global aspirational goals (LTAG). GOVERNANCE AND ORGANISATIONAL EFFICIENCY The organisation recorded another unqualified and clean audit outcome with no findings in the 2022/23 financial year audit. In an unprecedented move, the organisation recorded ZERO findings in all areas of the audit. The organisation also closed all the findings raised in the 2021/22 financial year. The organisation successfully implemented the Ethics and Forensic Fraud and Corruption Annual Plans, which were approved by the Board at the start of the financial year. Furthermore, all Parliamentary Questions received during this period were responded to and dispatched to the Department of Transport within the stipulated time frames. To ensure a strong control environment, the organisation closed all the major and significant findings raised in the internal audit and ISO quality management system audits. Both audit methodologies are based on a risk-based approach. BUSINESS CONTINUITY AND RESILIENCE Being prepared for any eventuality is the hallmark of a stable organisation. The Regulator, therefore, continued to ensure operational resilience by means of Business Continuity Plans that are aimed

at dealing with business disruptions of any size, in any location, from power outages to weather induced calamities, political unrest, spillages or even pandemics. The effectiveness of the programme was assessed twice during 2022/23 to ensure that users remain productive while maintaining the necessary levels of safety, security, and access control to corporate resources. CHALLENGES FACED BY THE SACAA In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the organisation still dealt with lower passenger numbers, which was compounded by the results of the demise of Comair and the increases in fuel prices. On 22 June 2022, the Minister of Health repealed the Regulations relating to wearing face masks to contain the spread of COVID-19, gatherings to contain the spread of COVID-19 and the regulation of persons entering the country. This marked the slow return to life as we knew it in the organisation, and employees were instructed to return to the office for a minimum of three days a week or as required. Lifting lockdowns also resulted in a gradual increase in passenger activity, with the correlating gradual improvement of organisational income, also as the result of increased user fees. However, the Regulator, together with the rest of the world, cannot afford to assume that a crisis such as the global pandemic will not hit us again, and the challenge that we face is to remain even more ready and prepared for any crisis that may strike. In this regard, South Africa is a member of the Collaborative Arrangement for the Prevention and Management of Public Health Events in Civil Aviation (CAPSCA), a voluntary cross-sectorial, multi-organisational collaboration programme managed by the ICAO with support from the World Health Organisation (WHO). The roll-out of the revised Civil Aviation Pandemic Preparedness Plan was beefed up to ensure that we are better prepared for any communicable disease that may affect the sector in the future.

General Information I Annual Report 2022/23 I 25