Private aircraft have been sneaking in and out of the Robert Gabriel Mugabe (RGM) International Airport and other Zimbabwean flight ports without detection due to poor air traffic control, investigations have revealed.
An association of local air traffic controllers is worried
that the repeated breaches pose a “national security threat”, investigations by
The Standard — working in partnership with Information for Development Trust
(IDT) and Zimstar News, an online publication — have revealed.
The IDT is a non-profit organisation helping promote the
capacity of local and southern African journalists to investigate corruption
and bad governance.
The shocking breaches were exposed in a high-level meeting
held on May 10 this year between the Air Traffic Controllers Association of
Zimbabwe (ATCAZ) and the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) board of
directors.
The meeting, which was held at the third level boardroom at
the RGM International Airport, was the first of its kind and came after ATCAZ
repeatedly requested engagement with the board so that it could air its
grievances relating to the handling of air traffic control over the years, minutes
show.
The main meeting, it was established, excluded the CAAZ
management so as to “allow for the (board) members to fully hear the ATC (air
traffic control) issues”.
The ATCAZ team was led by Learnmore Maranda, the
association’s president who came with Anderson Shonhiwa, Gift Munyaradzi Shoko,
Ashlove Kudakwashe Chihota — an executive board member representing Joshua
Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport — and Francisca Demawatema, who stood in
for the RGM International Airport.
Bertha Muzangaza, the company secretary, took down the
minutes.
Zimbabwe’s aviation system had, since 2010, operated
without a surveillance system, the air traffic controllers told the CAAZ board.
“Air traffic controllers’ representatives advised that,
because of the absence of a surveillance system since 2010 … aircraft come into
our airspace and leave without the ATCs (air traffic controllers) knowing,” the
minutes read.
“They (ATCs) further highlighted that such occurrences are
a threat to Zimbabwe’s national security and that they are also a loss of
revenue to CAAZ,” the minutes continued.
Two weeks before the meeting, the air traffic controllers
told the CAAZ board that a helicopter from Zambia sneaked into the RGM port.
“They (ATCs) further highlighted that just two weeks back,
a helicopter from Zambia landed at RGM International Airport without the ATCs
seeing it nor knowing about it,” the minutes further read.
“They had no communication with it and they were actually
surprised to see it already landed at the international landing area.
“As a result, their biggest fear is with the VVIP
aircraft.”
The ATCs then quizzed the helicopter crew, which reportedly
claimed that it had tried to communicate with the control tower attendants, but
did not get a response.
This revelation, according to the minutes, shocked the
board members who wondered why CAAZ was, in the first place, taking air
navigation fees and failing to fulfil its mandate.
Poor air traffic surveillance was promoting smuggling too
as private planes came and went unnoticed.
“They (ATCs) highlighted further that these private
aircraft engage in smuggling activities daily, as they can fly in and out of
the country without being detected due to the absence of a primary radar,” the
meeting record noted.
The ATCAZ recommended that the Defence ministry should help
with surveillance of all planes as CAAZ did not have the capacity to cover
aircraft flying at low levels and added that it was also possible for
commercial flights to land without detection.
Poor air traffic control has raised the risk of collisions
and reduced the capacity to prevent accidents, said the ATCs.
They blamed the recent horror crash of an Air Force of
Zimbabwe (AFZ) helicopter in Goromonzi district just outside Harare on poor
communication.
The helicopter, which was on a training mission, crashed
into a house in Goromonzi in late April, killing an 18-month old toddler.
The crew, comprising Thomas Manyowa, a wing commander,
Anita Mapiye, a female flight lieutenant, and Tinodiwanashe Chikamhi, a flight
sergeant and technician, also died in the crash.
The real cause of the crash has not been publicly
communicated by either AFZ, CAAZ or the Defence ministry.
The ATCs felt that the accident could have been avoided if
their controllers at the RGM port had managed to communicate with the
helicopter crew on time.
It is also not clear if the Manyame Airbase operators were
aware of the technical problems that the helicopter was facing.
Ironically, the RGM ATC learnt of the crash from the small
Charles Prince Airport in Mt Hampden, which is facing severe operational
challenges, as established by our investigations.
The respective airports throughout Zimbabwe, notably at
RGM, Victoria Falls, Bulawayo, Hwange, Buffalo Range and Charles Prince, have
been operating with depleted ATCs.
The Masvingo port has been closed for some time because of
lack of ATCs, according to the meeting minutes.
A CAAZ board delegation visited the Hwange airport last
year and was taken aback by the fact that the facility only had one ATC. To
make matters worse, the lone ATC recently married and went on a honeymoon for
two weeks, leaving the port unmanned.
International air traffic control regulations stipulate
that an airport should have at least one ATC at any given time and prohibits
its operation without an air traffic controller.
At the Buffalo Range airport in Masvingo, “aircraft are
landing and departing with no ATC services during weekends” and, “in the event
of a collision happening in such circumstances, the repercussions on a country
are dire”, read the minutes.
Investigations also established that the South African
aviation authority has, at times, picked potential collisions in Zimbabwean air
space and alerted local ATCs.
“They (ATCs) highlighted that … CAAZ and ACZ (Airport
Company of Zimbabwe) are allowing airports to operate without the presence of
ATCs and that there is a disaster in the making,” the minutes noted.
The Charles Prince Airport is in “a state of shambles and
should not continue to operate”, according to the Directorate of Flight Safety
and Standards, a regulatory arm of CAAZ.
However, this advice has been ignored and the airport is
still running.
The pavements, runways and taxi-ways at the airport are in
a state of disrepair, the board was told.
When Blessing Ngwarai — the CAAZ Air Navigation and
Technical Services director who earlier this year briefly held the acting
director-general’s position — was called for a question-and-answer segment
after the main meeting, he professed ignorance on who had blocked the closure
of Charles Prince, but sources later alleged that the directive came from the
Office of the President and Cabinet.
Ngwarai, the meeting minutes reveal, professed ignorance
over the Zambian helicopter incident which took place when he was the acting
director-general in April this year.
The RGM International Airport has not had distance
measuring equipment (DME) for years, “yet this is equipment which an air
traffic controller cannot do without”, the minutes indicated.
Investigations discovered, however, that the airport
recently managed to secure one after Ngwarai made passionate pleas for its procurement.
A DME is a navigation beacon that enables aircraft to
calculate their distance relative to that device using the speed of light. It
is essential for landing facility location and timing. Standard
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