Creecy asks for judicial inquest into 2020 SACAA crash near George

Transport Minister Barbara Creecy has asked the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Mmamoloko Kubayi, to open a judicial inquest into the deaths of three South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) employees who died when the regulator’s calibration aircraft crashed near George in the Western Cape. According to The Citizen, Creecy’s move follows the submission to her office of a full manuscript report on the crash by a SACAA official who had filed a protected whistle‑blower disclosure and was later dismissed.

Minister seeks independent review

According to The Citizen, Creecy’s spokesperson Collen Msibi said the minister believes a judicial inquest is the most effective way to determine whether anyone should be held accountable. The inquest has not yet been officially opened, The Citizen reported.

Whistle‑blower manuscript and disputed findings

The Citizen reports the manuscript was drafted by Jeremiah Visser, described as a SACAA airworthiness inspector and former accident investigator, following his own examination of the crash of Cessna Citation S550 ZS‑CAR on 23 January 2020. Within days of filing a whistle‑blowing report at SACAA, Visser took his disclosures to Creecy, the public protector and parliament’s portfolio committee on transport, and he was suspended during that time, The Citizen said.

The Citizen reports that SACAA later sought an urgent High Court interdict to prevent Visser publishing or distributing the manuscript; that application was struck from the roll with costs in July, the newspaper said. Visser was subsequently dismissed following a disciplinary process involving charges including alleged breaches of confidentiality and insubordination, The Citizen added.

Families and regulator disagree on earlier probe

The Citizen says families of the victims and SACAA both objected to the contents of an independent investigation carried out by Ethiopian government experts and released in January 2022. The Ethiopian investigation found the crew lost control of ZS‑CAR after entering an unusual attitude in cloud‑obscured mountainous terrain and also identified regulatory failures within SACAA’s Flight Inspection Unit.

According to The Citizen, the Ethiopians concluded that a required annual flight data recorder inspection had not been conducted, that the FDR did not record nine mandatory parameters and that there was no record of a required inspection before the aircraft returned to service six days earlier following an engine‑related serious incident.

Families seek answers

The Citizen quotes Simnikiwe Tolo, widow of Captain Thabiso Tolo, saying the families did not agree with pilot error being given as the only reason for the crash and that Creecy’s call for an inquest brings relief and the possibility of accountability.

Disputes over appeals and disclosures

The Citizen reports SACAA described the Ethiopian report as having been “successfully” appealed by both parties, but the regulator did not share with The Citizen why it had an issue with the document. SACAA spokesperson Sisa Majola declined further questions after that initial response, The Citizen said.

According to The Citizen, while Majola said Visser later withdrew the whistle‑blower report from the regulator’s system, Visser told The Citizen that the withdrawal was conditional and made amid concerns about how SACAA was investigating his disclosure. The Citizen also reports Visser did not withdraw his separate disclosures to Creecy, the public protector and parliament’s portfolio committee on transport.

What a judicial inquest could do

The Citizen says a judicial inquest could provide an independent mechanism to examine the circumstances surrounding the 2020 crash and to determine whether accountability is warranted. The manuscript and the publicity around the case have renewed scrutiny of the earlier investigation, The Citizen reported.