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OR Tambo random full body search on Muslim women sparks outrage

by Salaamedia Intern
Nadia Adam’s experience is one that hundreds of Muslim women have had to experience Photo Youtube/Instagram

Johannesburg – Airport Company South Africa (Acsa) staff have sparked outrage after subjecting a Muslim woman wearing hijab to a full body search. The search was carried out at the OR Tambo International Airport even though there appeared to be no safety issues.

This is not the first time such an incident has taken place. After Nadia Adams, an avid philanthropist, posted what happened to her on social media, as many as 300 other women have come forward sharing similar experiences. Adam has travelled all over the world and knows the do’s and don’ts of travelling. She was given a full body search even though no electric scanners were set off.

“I always check that I don’t have anything metallic on because it’s an ongoing struggle if you’re a hijabi. There’s always someone that’s pressing your head or patting down your scalp. I didn’t buzz when I walked through, and the lady started body searching me. She did my head and then she travelled down the rest of my body, my legs, my ankles. Every part just like in the movies and while she was doing that, I asked her why are you searching me because I didn’t beep. She said it’s a random check. So, I said but there’s no such thing as a random check if I didn’t beep. Why are you searching me? You’re not supposed to search because I did not beep.”

At first, she was told by another security guard that it was a random search. Upon inquiring further from the supervisor, she was told it is company policy “that you will be body searched even if you don’t buzz”. 

 

Others who have experienced being body searched at OR Tambo

Adam is not alone in experiencing such treatment, unfortunately. While it is up to every airport security to do what they must to protect people, Adam notes how it is only those who wear headscarves that are targeted for “random searches”. She believes the staff of OR Tambo are to blame, and any statement released is just them “making things up as they go along”.

“I’ve had over 300 ladies reach out with comments saying the same thing happened to them. They didn’t beep and that’s the worst thing. Everyone didn’t beep. What are the chances that a mother, sister, granny, all four in the family are randomly checked? How do you randomly check four people in hijab?”

According to Adam, many people have emailed OR Tambo airport and Acsa since 2019 about the issue and all of them get different responses. Staff have apparently told women they are only stopped because they wear a headscarf, said Adam.

“It’s admonishments from the staff. They tell the ladies, when people are asking them why are you searching us, they say to them that you know why. Another time people ask them why are you searching us and they say take the scarf off and we won’t search you. This is from their staff so definitely there’s something more to this.”

 

Why and how people are selected to be searched

While many have come out and said they felt targeted because they wore headscarves, Jabulani Khambule, Regional General Manager at Acsa, said it is not so. There are strict regulations that are followed at OR Tambo airport and searches do happen at random according to a machine.

“According to the International Civil Aviation Organization and the South African Civil Aviation regulations, we are also required to comply with these regulations and these regulations specifically pertain to the security of the airport, the safety of the passengers and everyone that is using the airport. What happens is that when you go through our security checkpoints, we do random checks. They will do a random peak of passengers. After a certain number of passengers have gone through, we will do a random search. It will pick you up and then you will be subjected to your search. It is no way programmed to target any specific individual. It is just a random search that is programmed on the machine.”

Khambule stressed the searches are done randomly. The machine nor the security staff target anyone based on “race, colour, creed or religious orientation”.

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The training that staff members get

Khambule condemned the responses that Adam and many others have got from security including being told they ‘know why’ they are being searched. According to Khambule, this is against the training programme every staff member has to go for. Upon questioning the staff, he believes they acted according to their training.

“We have a training program called The Pride Training program which represents our applied values as an organisation. One of the most important of these pride values is treating people with respect. Our personnel go through this training in order to give passengers a very delightful experience and be respectful when they communicate to our passengers … Our employees were interviewed in terms of what actually transpired on the day. The response that we got was definitely the standards to which we have trained them on how to communicate, respond and treat passengers with the utmost of respect. I will investigate. I will sit with the specific employee. We do have footage and just follow up as to what really happened.”

 

The reality of the situation 

Although Khambule insists the searches are done at random, his words cannot console those who have gone through such an experience. For Ehsaan Moosa, a concerned citizen whose wife and daughter had a “profiling” experience at OR Tambo, the words of Khambule feel more like lies than truth. What his family experienced on Friday was something that had never happened to him before.

The family flew to KZN for a family function. Moosa is a frequent flyer, just like Adam, and made sure his family’s pockets were empty and no one was carrying any metal as they passed through the detectors. His family all passed through the electric scanners without anything going off but they were still subjected to a full body search.

“I always walk as everyone is going through seeing if anybody is setting off the alarms. I’m quite diligent with making sure everybody empties their pockets. Put everything on the counters as they go through. As I’m a frequent traveller, I know all about security protocols and I know nobody set off the alarm. As I come through, I see my wife and my daughter, who is my daughter 13 and wearing a scarf, my wife is in full hijab, I see them being searched. I ask my wife what is going on and she says she has absolutely no idea.”

To add to this harrowing experience is what the security officer said to Moosas’ youngest daughter who is just six years old.

“The male guard or security or whatever you want to call him, after they searched my wife and daughter from head to toe, tells my little six-year-old daughter, ‘don’t worry you are too small. We don’t have to give you a free massage’. This is profiling for Muslim females. My only intention out of all of this, is I will not stand by and allow any mother, sister or daughter to be targeted anymore in our airports.”

 

This is specific to OR Tambo

Khambule made a point to stress that these rules and regulations are followed in every airport in South Africa. However, Moosa pointed out this only occurred at OR Tambo. His family also experienced a similar issue at King Shaka International Airport but they were treated very differently.

“We came to Durban [King Shaka International Airport] yesterday. There were absolutely no issues. In fact, yesterday my 13-year-old actually set off the alarm and they were perfectly polite. They actually asked them to step back and come back through and the alarm didn’t go off. There was absolutely no checking of the hair, nothing. This is specific to OR Tambo. It’s not happening at other airports.”

Moosa has travelled to countries that have far stricter rules and regulations. In his travels, he has never come across any airport that treats Muslim women as OR Tambo does.

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An apology is not enough 

Acsa has put forth an apology to Adam over the incident, but an apology is not enough for Moosa. The problem has persisted long enough, and he strongly feels it is time lawyers get involved. His family is also not looking for an apology. They want a persistent and fair application of the rules.

“An apology is not going to make it acceptable for the lady that’s going to go through that airport, to be subjected to the same thing that happened to Nadia Adam, to my wife and daughter on Friday. That’s happening to somebody else right now at OR Tambo.”

Moosa wants clear and concise answers on what the rules are. He believes part of the reason this is happening is because the staff are not being trained properly. People have also reached out to him privately to talk about their experience. 

Moosa wants those who have the financial means to take up the cause and support others even if it means this will have to go all the way to the Constitutional Court. He will also be lodging an official complaint to the South African Human Rights Commission against Acsa.

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