Editorial
Johannesburg - For the first time in years, South Africa’s borders will be fully open during the peak overseas tourism season. After the ravages of the pandemic on our tourism sector, this is something to truly welcome. In 2018, the travel and tourism sector contributed 1.5 million jobs and R425.8 billion to the economy. A large part of that was foreign tourism.
The scope and scale of South Africa’s tourism offerings are unparalleled. The problem is that so is our crime – and especially the crime of stealing from passengers’ bags transiting airports. It literally is a pandemic all of its own.
Every one of our airports offers bag-wrapping services – at a price. Every single one of our airports warns passengers about packing valuables in luggage destined for check-in – and then promptly bans a whole range of items from carry-on, forcing them to be put in the hold, too.
The lawlessness of the baggage handlers is so bad that passengers then try to take as much as they can on board with them, further adding to the misery that flying has become – overpriced, overcrowded and under-serviced.
To make matters worse, the bureaucracy involved in submitting a claim almost appears to be designed to deter passengers who have been robbed, while the amount of damages that can be claimed is risible.
None of this should be necessary.
Instead, there should be no theft, because anyone caught on the various CCTV circuits pilfering from a bag should be caught, summarily fired – and charged in a criminal court.
But this is something that Airports Company South Africa (Acsa), all the different agencies from the airlines themselves and the outsourced ground-handling staff seem totally impotent to resolve – for years.
Covid-19 was bad enough, but we couldn’t control it. Baggage theft can be controlled. It’s time it was – once and for all.