Major Jefferson Thokwane
Major Jefferson Thokwane, the Chief Executive Officer of the Botswana Civil Aviation Authority (CAAB) will terminate his contract of employment with the organisation in 19 November, 2013 for personal reasons, Modipe Nkwe, Civil Aviation Authority of Botswana (CAAB), Manager of Public Affairs said. The former Botswana Defence Force officer will serve a six months notice and will have served CAAB for just two and half years.
Thokwane joined the organisation two years after its commencement of operations as a parastatal after taking over the functions previously performed by Department of Civil Aviation. He joined at the time when CAAB was going through transition and transformation from a government department to a body corporate with a board as its governing body.
“The challenges faced by CAAB since its establishment have been many and varied, most critical of which is financial and human capital resource constraints. Despite these challenges, CAAB has made modest achievements and has discharged its statutory objective of promoting the safe, regular, secure and efficient use and development of civil aviation in Botswana. The most notable of achievements made by CAAB is the promulgation of regulations, the purpose of which is to operationalise the Civil Aviation Act, 2011 which provided for the development of CAAB in its current form and state,” said Nkwe.
Nkwe noted that during the last two years, the organisation addressed the deficiencies identified by ICAO during a safety audit that it concluded in May 2006. He said the progress made in addressing these deficiencies was noted by a five-person team which conducted an ICAO Coordinated Validation Mission (ICVM) on Botswana from 3rd to 9th April 2013.
The most significant outcome of the ICVM is the improvement in the Botswana’s rating in terms of Effective Implementation of ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices from 27.8 % in 2006 to 59.6 % in 2013, a rating which is above the average for Africa of 40 % and almost equal to the global average of 60 %.
Other achievements include crafting of Strategic Plan, an ICAO- compliant Organisation Structure, separation of CAAB’s Regulatory Oversight functions from service provision functions through the formation of Aviation Certification & Regulatory Oversight (ACRO)division of the flight Safety Directorate as well as adoption of Inspector Training System (ITS) to ensure CAAB inspectors are trained and certified in accordance with this ICAO-approved System to carry out their inspectorate and surveillance duties.
Major General Thokwane has during his tenure made one of his priorities to promote/sell the civil aviation to both the political and civil service leadership and to highlight the importance of aviation sector to the nation. He addressed the Ntlo Ya Dikgosi on 17, June, 2013, Central District Full Council on 18 June, 2013 and Northwest District Full Council on 26, June 2013.