Acsa denies discrimination claim over physical passenger searches

After a stir over cultural and religious issues in physical searches of passengers at airports, Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) has denied allegations of discrimination.

“Acsa does not have any policies or procedures that discriminate against any passengers or airport users on the basis of gender, race, cultural beliefs, religion or place of origin,” said group executive for enterprise security Mzwandile Petros.

The company strove to ensure the rights of travellers are protected during passenger searches.

“South Africa is a constitutional democracy that accords equal regard to all individuals regardless of their faith, race, gender or cultural background. Acsa, as a state-owned company, subscribes to all principles espoused in the constitution which ensure a free and equal society.

“We are ready to observe and defend the rights of all people at the facilities we manage,” Petros said.

Searches would continue to ensure safety amid rising numbers of passengers.

“Acsa acknowledges physical searches may cause discomfort for passengers and, in view of this, our security personnel have been instructed to ensure searches are conducted in a respectful and courteous manner.

“Physical searches will be conducted with sensitivity to recognised religious and cultural practices. This includes providing an appropriate space to conduct a physical search, should the passenger so prefer.”

Acsa appealed to passengers to co-operate with security personnel during security searches.

“Searches are designed to be conducted for all travellers, even when there is no trigger from the security checkpoint. Acsa calls on travellers to note that when being ushered through the screening process by airport security personnel they may be required to remove headgear, including fixed religious and cultural headgear.

“Our security protocols include random physical searches that are performed for all passengers after a certain number of people have passed a security search point at the airport terminal. These standard practices are in line with the security manual of the International Civil Aviation Organisation.”

A Muslim woman on Facebook, Sumaya Amod, raised questions about the fairness of searches, claiming Muslim women are often subjected to searches when others are not.

“Hopefully nuns will be subject to the same search criteria as Muslim women in hijab. Too often it is Muslim women who are singled out and subjected to being searched. And yes, I am one of them. I know of Muslim women who are searched regardless of your so-called 'random' searches.

“Do you search under the wigs of anyone that wears wigs or hair pieces? This would bring about a different set of issues. What about people who wear wigs for the purposes of health like cancer patients? Have you trained your security staff in the necessary cultural sensitivity awareness that is required to make your customers feel respected?” Amod asked.

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