Cape Town - Full searches by Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) staff have sparked outrage after a Joburg-based event planner, Nadia Adam, shared her frustration on social media.
Adam was subjected to a full-body search before she departed OR Tambo International Airport, despite being cleared by the electronic scanners.
Adam told the Cape Argus she was a Muslim woman and often travelled wearing a headscarf, not only domestically but internationally, to, among others, Dubai, Turkey and Palestine, and was never patted down in the manner she was at OR Tambo on October 31.
“I hate it when airport security feel my hair bun or press my head through the scarf. It’s for this reason I always make sure I wear nothing metallic that will set off the security beeper.
“In other countries they use scanners when doing full-body searches, so they don’t actually feel your body, but in our country they actually use their hands under your bra, in your bag, under your thighs, on your hips, it’s everywhere.”
When questioning security about why they searched her, as she did not buzz during the electronic safety check, they said it was a random search.
Since Adam’s social media post, numerous others have come forward to share similar experiences.
OR Tambo International Airport regional general manager Jabulani Khambule said: “Acsa deeply regrets causing any offence to Nadia Adam at OR Tambo International Airport, one of the country’s strategic key point.”
Following Adam’s comment on social media, Khambule said Acsa immediately reached out to her to explain that the incident, while very unfortunate, did not constitute an attempt to isolate and target individuals on the basis of their look, attire, religion, race, gender or place of origin.
“As we work towards enhancing security measures at all airports, we are also ensuring strict adherence to international best practice such as those set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, where an individual may be requested to avail themselves to a physical search, only after a certain number of passengers have passed the security control point,” he said.
Khambule said standard operating procedure dictated that security personnel perform such a search only when automatically prompted by the system in place, which meant passengers were randomly selected.
The National Freedom Party (NFP) has condemned the incident and called for an immediate investigation into Acsa security policy, as well as an evaluation as to whether it was in line with the Constitution.
NFP MP Ahmed Emam said: “It is unacceptable that Muslim women are subjected to this level of outright bigotry and islamophobia. Furthermore, the NFP has been formed that there has been nearly 300 reported cases, where Muslim woman wearing religious headgear, have been unfairly targeted based on their religion and attire, without a clear security violation to back up what is evidently religious profiling.”
Emam said that based on anecdotal evidence, it appeared that Muslim women with headscarves were disproportionately targeted, and that these so-called “random searches” conducted at airports across the country, were actually targeted and part of their policy.
kristin.engel@inl.co.za