SAA passenger upset by 'physical tussle' at OR Tambo passport control

Source: Traveller 24, 13/10/2015

Cape Town – Facing the queues at immigration control is about the
least fun part of any international adventure.
But what could be worse than travelling long-haul, arriving an hour
late due to a delay and realising you might possibly miss your
connecting flight?
Hitting a stone wall of uncooperative immigration officials, unwilling
to assist, that`s what.
This was the experience of Cape Town Medical Cape Town resident Dr
Cilla Van Wyk*, on Friday 9 October, after landing at OR Tambo
International at around 17:00pm.
Van Wyk told Traveller24 she had been travelling for about two days,
after attending two research ethics conferences - one in Oxford, UK
and finally one in Seattle, US - and was on her way back home to Cape
Town.
'Less than half an hour to make her connecting flight'
Van Wyk landed in Johannesburg at OR Tambo International an hour later
than expected, since her SA210 from Washington DC through Accra to
Johannesburg had been delayed. This meant she, along with some other
passengers, had less than half an hour to make connecting flights to
Cape Town and Bloemfontein.
Van Wyk`s flight from Joburg to Cape Town was due to depart at 17:45
on the Friday and she still had to collect her luggage.
According to Van Wyk, SAA staff "apologised over and over again" about
the delay and sent ground staff to accompany the group who had to
urgently make their connecting flight - in an attempt to "fast track"
them through passport control.
But this is when all the trouble began, since passport queues were
relatively long, Van Wyk said.
'Not willing to accommodate anything out of the box'
"The home affairs officials were unfortunately just not able or
willing to accommodate anything out of the box," said Van Wyk.
"They refused to accommodate the fast track. They wanted us to fill in
a form before entering the passport queue but were not willing to give
us a form.
It was at this point that home affairs officials became obstinate. Van
Wyk said they "physically formed a human line blocking the group from
entering the passport queue and even began shouting unprofessionally"
at them.
'Physically shoved an airline passenger'
"One official physically shoved an airline passenger, while another
started shouting discriminatory statements about South Africans," said
Van Wyk.
"The officials publicly defamed their own citizens saying `It is
always the South Africans, you have no respect. You must show some
respect.`"
Van Wyk said she is a seasoned traveller and is not used to be
treating like this.
'Season traveller not used to this sort of treatment'
"I could see the SAA staff who were trying to help even felt
embarrassed. I can understand when passengers are just being
demanding, trying to break into the queue but our group was being
assisted by SAA ground staff and we urgently needed to make our
connecting flights.
"What I can`t understand is their reaction (immigration officials).
People get difficult at airports but the behaviour of one immigration
official in particular was just a little bit scary."
'Scary, unprofessional behaviour'
According to Van Wyk, the female immigration official was even pulled
aside by her supervisor – but simply continued to "shout at them in an
unprofessional manner".
"This is a definite case of a bad apple element affecting the
reputation of an entire institution. I cannot remember everything they
said because particularly the one lady starting just ranting very
loudly and carried on this way for 10 minutes.
'Bad apple element affecting reputation of an entire institution'
Van Wyk said her group was eventually directed to follow a home
affairs "supervisor" who also seems lacklustre in his approach to
their urgent need to make their flight.
The group politely asked for assistance, expressing their anxiety
about missing their flights but were "rudely dismissed", Van Wyk said.
"The official told us, `Excuse me but can you not see I am busy
talking to my colleague, you can wait until I am done`," Van Wyk said.
All in all Van Wyk said she just managed to make her flight while
another in her group unfortunately missed their flight to Bloemfontein.
"As a frequent global traveller I am both disappointed and ashamed -
what an embarrassment these home affairs officials were to us."
Traveller24 contacted home affairs for comment on the matter.
Home Affairs Spokesperson Mayihlome Tshwete said, "According to the
law a queue is a queue.
"There is nothing that is written down that says the officials cannot
use their discretion in order to assist passengers.
'Use discretion to assist passengers'
"But it has been our experience that people complain on both sides.
Officials often get singled out when they seem to fast track
passengers, with other passengers upset by those allowed to skip the
queue, Tshwete said.
Van Wyk said she was especially concerned about the "underlying
aggression that erupted in public acts of discrimination and physical
violence".
"I sadly felt unsafe on home soil."