ATNS hid sexual harassment, racism

Blacks told Africans not capable of being air traffic controllers

- By Bongani Mdakane [e-mail]

The state-owned company responsible for the control of air traffic, the Air Traffic and Navigation Services (ATNS), allegedly hid an explosive complaint detailing sexual harassment and racism that was sent to its top executives and the board in 2017.

The memorandum, written by an employee who left ATNS in 2021 after allegedly being pushed out through frustrations and constant threats, paints a grim picture of how sexual harassment and racism are rife within the organisation, which is based in Bruma in the east of Johannesburg.

Sunday World reported about another incident in February, where a female employee filed a case of sexual harassment by the company’s senior manager in air traffic management, Simon Zwane.

Zwane was sent packing two weeks ago by ATNS after his case was investigated.

This week, Sunday World saw a memorandum that was filed to the company’s human resource department by the complainant, who had been with ATNS for 17 years, where she revealed how she was allegedly sexually harassed and subjected to racism.

The complainant, whose identity is known to Sunday World but cannot be named to protect her, painted an explicit picture of the challenges they were subjected to by white racist men and horny black senior managers.

She pleaded for justice and for all the issues she raised to be investigated.