Civil aviation whistleblower firing sparks calls for independent probe
· Citizen
Calls are mounting for an independent investigation into the South African Civil Aviation Authority’s handling of whistleblower Jeremiah Visser after the regulator fired him following disclosures concerning the fatal crash of its own aircraft.
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OUTA and Public Interest SA have both questioned SACAA’s treatment of Visser and called for the substance of the concerns he raised to be investigated independently rather than allowing the matter to end with his dismissal.
Visser, an airworthiness inspector and former air crash investigator, used SACAA’s internal Vuvuzela whistleblowing mechanism in March to raise concerns arising from his research into the January 2020 crash of ZS-CAR, the regulator’s Cessna Citation S550 calibration aircraft. Three people died when the aircraft crashed near George.
Visser was suspended soon after making the disclosure over allegations which included acting unethically and divulging confidential information. He was subsequently subjected to a disciplinary process and dismissed.
Treating whistleblowers as outcasts
SACAA also approached the North Gauteng High Court in July, seeking to prevent Visser from publishing or sharing a manuscript about the crash. The urgent leg of its application was struck from the roll with costs.
OUTA chief executive Wayne Duvenage said the organisation was concerned about the approach SACAA had taken against Visser.
“It always amazes us when organisations treat whistleblowers as outcasts, instead of engaging constructively and establishing what went wrong and how the entity should conduct corrective action to their processes,” he said.
Duvenage said the nature of SACAA’s mandate made its handling of the matter particularly concerning.
“What worries us more is that the SACAA, who are supposed to be extremely vigilant on air safety matters for the flying public, appear to be remiss in their internal roles and responsibilities.”
He called for transport Minister Barbara Creecy to intervene and ensure the regulator was not left to scrutinise its own conduct again.
Creecy must intervene
“OUTA suggests that Minister Barbara Creecy should not allow the SACAA to investigate itself and that an external, independent investigation takes place on this issue,” Duvenage said.
Public Interest SA chairperson Tebogo Khaas said the circumstances surrounding Visser’s suspension and dismissal raised questions about whether he may have suffered occupational detriment for raising matters he believed were in the public interest.
He cautioned against prejudging the merits of Visser’s employment dispute but said the underlying questions surrounding the crash should not become secondary to SACAA’s dispute with him.
“Three people died in the ZS-CAR crash. If credible concerns have subsequently emerged about the circumstances of that tragedy or the adequacy of its investigation, those concerns deserve to be independently and transparently interrogated on their merits,” Khaas said.
SACAA has previously told The Citizen that it was under no obligation to confirm the correctness of information contained in Visser’s manuscript and maintained that information obtained by an employee in the course of their employment remained proprietary to the regulator.
SACAA under no obligation to confirm legitimacy of information
It has also acknowledged that it was conflicted from investigating the ZS-CAR accident.
Khaas said this made independent scrutiny more important, irrespective of whether SACAA believed Visser had breached employment policies or contractual obligations.
“The messenger and the message must be separated. Even if SACAA believes that Visser breached an employment policy or contractual obligation, that does not dispose of the substantive safety concerns he raised,” he said.
Khaas also questioned the proximity between Visser using SACAA’s own whistleblowing mechanism and his subsequent suspension, while stressing that timing on its own did not establish retaliation.
“You cannot encourage employees to blow the whistle and then create the perception that pulling that whistle triggers the disciplinary whistle,” he said.
He said Visser’s dismissal had not resolved the questions contained in his disclosures.
“Visser’s dismissal does not answer the questions he raised. If anything, it makes an independent determination of those questions even more imperative.”
Unanswered questions
Khaas called for Creecy, Parliament and independent oversight authorities to ensure Visser’s disclosures were investigated, saying the matter should not be reduced to an employment dispute.
“The families of those who died, the aviation community, and the South African public deserve to know whether his concerns have merit,” he said.