Travel industry professionals have expressed concern over the safety of their travellers at South Africa’s airports after reports of intimidation by taxi service agents have come to light.

“I had a client who came in from another country,” an anonymous source told Tourism Update’s sister publication TNW. “She walked up to the taxi driver who was holding her name card. He then took the bags out of her hands, put them in his taxi and drove off before she got into the car.”

The travel industry expert admitted this was not the first time she had heard of these types of incidents. “It even happened to me,” she said. “I walked out of the airport and someone tried to insist that I use his taxi service. He made continuous attempts to take my bags out of my hands and put them in his car.

“It got to the point where I had to ask him why he was not listening to me and demand that he let go of my bags.”

In a recent poll on Tourism Update’s sister publication eTNW, the majority of travel agents surveyed said their passengers had fallen victim to intimidation at the airports.

Acsa is aware of the reported incidents, says Head of Security, Jason Tshabalala. “And we view any intimidation of both local and international travellers in a very serious light.”

However, Tshabalala says Acsa cannot confirm whether the perpetrators are licensed operators. “While the airports company has a list of accredited metered taxi operators who are authorised with the relevant airport permits to pick up and drop people off at the airport, we cannot at this stage conclusively say that it is indeed the unauthorised taxi operators who harass passengers as there is also the issue of vagrants in the airport precinct, amongst other elements, that the security cluster is working to root out.”

He says Acsa’s security cluster, which is made up of SAPS Intelligence, Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department and various other stakeholders, is dealing with a number of factors that may have possibly led to the harassment of passengers.

“For instance, the Gauteng Traffic Inspectorate impounded 52 vehicles belonging to illegal taxi operators within the airport precinct during a sting operation earlier this year,” says Tshabalala. “Similarly, Ekurhuleni Metro Police’s ‘bridge and roadway clean up’ operation resulted in the removal of illegal vagrants with several items suspected to have been stolen from passengers being recovered.”

Any metered taxi operators who need to pick up customers are required to obtain the necessary authorisation to do so in advance from Acsa’s security department and failure to do so is a violation of the airport security policy,” says Tshabalala. “We will continue to enforce our licensing regulations for taxi operators within the airport precinct to ensure the safety and security of our visitors and travellers.”

Hawkers have also been said to intimidate airport users. “Only licensed operators and retailers are allowed to sell at the airports and passengers are urged to immediately report individuals and businesses that are conducting unauthorised commercial activity,” comments Tshabalala.

He adds that the company has partnered with other stakeholders to map out and implement strategies to combat and reduce safety and security incidents. “For instance, Acsa’s security division carried out Operation Fiela in partnership with SAPS Crime Intelligence, SAPS Border Police, SARS Customs, Department of Home Affairs – Immigration Services and State Security Agency.”

Some of the successes achieved include the removal of illegal vagrants in and around airports with recovery of several items suspected to have been stolen from passengers, says Tshabalala..

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“We will continue to intensify the efforts and initiatives aimed at eradicating unlawful activities at our airports.”