<\/p>\n
The Civil Aviation Amendment Act 22 of 2021 came into operation on October 12 following publication in the Government Gazette.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the legislation into law on April 6, 2022, before signing the proclamation bringing the amendments into effect on September 16, 2026.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The legislative process began in November 2018.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The amendments operationalise previously dormant aviation safety provisions, including changes to Chapter 4 of the Civil Aviation Act providing for the Aviation Safety Investigation Board.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Aviation Analyst Dr Guy Leitch said creating an independent accident investigation body was the most important change. \u201cThe key change, and it\u2019s incredible to me and many others that it has taken so long, is the establishment of an independent aviation accident investigation board,\u201d Leitch said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Aircraft accident investigations were previously conducted by a structure operating within the SA Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA).<\/p>\n
Leitch said the arrangement created a potential conflict because SACAA could be implicated in incidents the regulator was responsible for investigating. \u201cYou can\u2019t be the judge and the jury in accidents,\u201d Leitch said. \u201cQuite often, SACAA itself may be implicated in accidents, and therefore it can\u2019t be the sole investigator.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Leitch cited the continuing controversy surrounding the investigation into the 2021 crash of SACAA aircraft ZS-CAR near George.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Under the amended law, investigators are expected to move from SACAA to a separate institution with independent employment, remuneration and performance-management arrangements.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThe existing infrastructure and human resources are already in place,\u201d Leitch said. \u201cThe structure just needed to be properly independent.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Leitch said the separation should improve confidence in investigations and could strengthen SACAA\u2019s international safety standing.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
However, Leitch expressed concern about changes to the Aviation Appeals Committee, which had previously demonstrated independence by criticising SACAA decisions.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The amendments also introduce substantially increased penalties and classify certain regulatory violations as criminal offences. \u201cIt\u2019s a mixed bag, but all in all, it certainly strengthens the hand of SACAA in terms of regulation,\u201d Leitch said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom a passenger-safety and confidence perspective, I think it\u2019s a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":40099,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-47960","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"South Africa's (SA) amended civil aviation law has taken effect, establishing an independent board to investigate aircraft accidents and strengthening aviation safety regulation.","published_date":"","news_description":"","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/47960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/47960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47962,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/47960\/revisions\/47962"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=47960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}