Two arrested at airport

Cable theft at the Welkom Airport has caused hundreds of thousands of rand in damage to a R3 million project, creating a major setback.

Two men, aged 37 and 46, were arrested for theft and tampering with essential infrastructure.

Private security officers discovered the pair on 20 January at 00:30 at the Welkom Airport after they had already stolen 123m of copper cable, which was subsequently recovered from the suspects.

“Police confiscated the copper cable and logged it as evidence for further investigation. Tiisetso Joseph Seeisa (37) and Collen Mathebula (46) were subsequently arrested. They appeared in the Welkom Magistrate’s Court on Thursday 22 January,” says Sgt Palesa Thabana of the police in Lejweleputswa.

Aviation expert Brian Emmenis explained that a state-of-the-art LED runway lighting system had been installed at the airport several years ago.

“This lighting system was on par with the best systems at most major airports in South Africa. The truth is that these criminals have ripped up cables and destroyed this major project, which is heartbreaking,” says Emmenis.

He notes a fact often overlooked is that the Welkom Airport is ideally situated for training pilots, and recently large numbers of flying schools have been making use of the airport for night training.

“This is primarily due to the fact that the airspace above Welkom is uncluttered and in most cases the weather conditions are favourable for the training of student pilots,” Emmenis explains.

He says that recently the military has also started to use this airport for training sessions.

“One of the biggest tragedies is that these criminals have endangered the lives of people such as rescue pilots who arrive at the airport in the dead of night to collect critically ill patients for hospital transfers.

“These life support air ambulances require proper lighting in order to land and take off safely. This capability has now been lost. This truly is a tragedy for Welkom Airport.”

He explains that the lights form part of a complex system and will require repair by the original supplier.

“Pilots had the capability to switch the lights on whilst approaching the runway, and land at night. They could also automatically switch the runway lights off when taking off again,” says Emmenis.