The scramble for (South) Africa
I was not going to write much more about our impending regulations here in South Africa.
For me they are a good thing, I went to a meeting I heard the SACAA being reasonable and I saw that a few sensible folks knew what they were talking about in Gauteng. That’s the Province many miles away from where I stay and much like the relationship London has with the rest of the Britain sometimes not to be trusted.
The news of RPAS regulations has gone mad in the media here, a wry smile for me when a nod was made towards them in one of our most popular satirical cartoons.
I live in a small village and just about everyone here knows I’m into this sort of thing so I am getting asked lots of questions.
One of these out of the blue local conversations happened 10 minutes ago and has just underlined for me why drone regulations are required in South Africa.
A lady I know has been part of a very successful charity campaign, they have raised lots of money. To celebrate that they commissioned a photograph of them all together with a thing they made underneath the arms of a Nelson Mandela sculpture on the steps of the Union Building. That’s what we call a National Key point down here, its not the White House but its important.
Now the conversation started somewhere along the lines of we were lucky with our photo and these new drone rules just in the nick of time.
Now I said oh did somebody have a son or husband that did that for you, thinking to myself crikey that’s brave in front of the Union Buildings. No my friend said we paid for it, oh says I. The amount is revealed R16000 for 30 minutes work. My friend asked the company if they could fly there when she booked and they told her that yes they had all the permissions from the SACAA and permission to fly from the Union Buildings. They were an American company fully authorised in the USA to do this kind of thing, and now over here in Africa thousands of hours of trouble free commercial flying, please sign here. I don’t believe for a second they are an American company.
I think she might have seen my jaw drop.
One of the problems of living in a small village is that you are not exposed to big towns and their fancy ways. If somebody is a bit rogue everyone knows.
This chap was of course plain lying to my friend but how was she to know.
Garages, electricians, plumbers all manner of services rip people off but normally there is a standard to which they can be held to.
Until a country has clear defined regulations that companies must abide by its much like the wild West in this companies claimed homeland.
If you are able to freely lie about the legality of your operation taking money from a charity could never be an issue.
If you are interested in what the rules coming to South Africa look like John Gore has created a website to let you know http://www.safedrone.co.za/
Right I’m climbing down off my high horse now.
