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The Democratic Alliance (DA) sees today’s collapse of aviation fuel supplies at OR Tambo International Airport as a serious and calamitous failure, risking tourism and investor confidence in South Africa.

We call for a full-scale investigation into the root cause of the fuel supply failure today at OR Tambo International Airport by the Minister of Transport, Barbara Creecy. The stakes are too high for this to be ignored, or go through a low-level, low-impact investigation.

After stories this weekend that The Airports Company of South Africa is facing severe financial issues, including risks of bankruptcy, the state of essential facilities at key airports, like this, is now in seriously in question.

Hard questions must be asked of the most senior managers and technicians at OR Tambo International Airport, the Airports Company of South Africa, and the fuel providers.

The seriousness, demanding a Ministerial investigation, is that this airport is the gateway to the economy of South Africa. Shutting down the country’s main airport is tantamount to closing our borders to the rest of the world, and this cannot be allowed to happen again, through technical breakdowns or any other cause.

We cannot simply celebrate that the fuel supply is back up and running, when the root cause has not been eliminated. A current, potentially interim fix is not good enough, if there is a serious and systemic risk of failure again.

Just days after the negative impact of the SAA pilot strike, another threat to the image and brand of South Africa’s air travel industry through this fuel supply collapse, is deeply unacceptable.

On the brink of the most important tourist season of the year, our country cannot afford international stories to run about the unreliability of our air travel logistics. Only tough, hard-hitting action from the Minister will show that the country is serious about fixing this.

Issued by Dr Chris Hunsinger MP - DA Spokesperson on Transport