Acsa loses appeal for control of baggage screening services at major airports

The Airports Company of South Africa (Acsa) and the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) have suffered a legal blow in their battle with Aviation Co-ordination Services (ACS) to take control of baggage control screening.

This comes after the Gauteng High Court dismissed the urgent appeal by Acsa and SACAA on Friday, which barred it from bidding for or purchasing baggage screening equipment.

Judgment on airport equipment

The court judgment by Jude Twala upholds the high court’s order on 5 November 2024, requiring Acsa and SACAA to allow ACS to replace the relevant equipment at OR Tambo and King Shaka International Airports while a main review case is still before the courts.

It confirmed that the critical replacement of old hold baggage screening (HBS) equipment may proceed at the international airports, which is needed to ensure public safety and airport efficiency.

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Acsa baggage services

In May 2023, Acsa announced plans to terminate ACS’s more than two-decade role in providing baggage screening services. It said it intended to take over these services directly.

Acsa argued that it was supposed to be responsible for the baggage services, and that ACS had been running the services without a formal tender, which means Acsa was in breach of the procurement rules for state-owned entities.

However, ACS contends that the airline is responsible for providing HBS services at airports, with ACS legally mandated by the airlines to operate and manage the services.

ACS appeal

In response, ACS approached the courts to review and set aside Acsa’s decision to insource HBS services, including issuing a R3.15 billion tender for HBS equipment and force SACAA to approve the replacement of four backup baggage screening equipment at OR Tambo and King Shaka airports.

In November last year, the court ordered that SACAA must approve the replacement and allow the process to be completed within 10 days of the order being made.

Acsa and SACAA then sought to suspend these directives through an appeal, arguing that they should not be enforced while broader legal proceedings, mainly the review of Acsa’s plan to insource HBS services, are ongoing.

However, the High Court judgment on Friday dismissed this appeal, affirming that these orders remain operational and enforceable during the review process.

“The replacement of these units is essential to maintaining uninterrupted, internationally compliant baggage screening services at South Africa’s major airports. We are pleased that the court has recognised the urgency and importance of this work, and that we can now move forward in the interests of all airline passengers,” said Duke Phahla, CEO of ACS.

ACSA tenders

Acsa has a fraught history of dealing with large tenders.

In August last year, despite stating that there were no allegations of irregularities, Acsa suspended its chief information officer in relation to a technology tender.

Mthokozisi Mncwabe had been placed on precautionary suspension after “prima facie evidence of wrongdoing” was uncovered in a biometric and digital identity technology project.

This came despite Acsa previously stating before the High Court that there were no irregularities in the procurement processes.

The contract, worth R115 million, was awarded to French multinational technology company IDEMIA, with a requirement that at least 30% of the value be subcontracted to a South African, black-owned enterprise.

IDEMIA partnered with the local company InfoVerge, but the relationship eventually deteriorated.

Security tender

Also last year, the court halted Acsa from awarding an airport security tender to a non-compliant service provider since 2018.

This followed allegations made by the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) that Acsa unlawfully awarded the contract to Checkport SA, “a foreign-owned company that has no requisite expertise”.

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