Vehicles are being abandoned at South Africa’s busiest airports, said Mpho Maluleka of the Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) on CapeTalk.
Maluleka said airport staff identify possible abandoned vehicles by checking for excessive dust build-up, flat tyres and how long the vehicle has remained parked.
He explained that parking attendants and security teams monitor vehicles daily and report cars that appear abandoned.
ACSA then works with banks, law enforcement and the South African Police Service to determine ownership and whether the vehicles may have been stolen.
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Owners sometimes never return
According to Maluleka, some vehicle owners leave South Africa and never come back.
In some cases, the cars are financed by banks, which are later contacted to reclaim them.
He also said some people return after leaving vehicles parked for more than a year, only to discover massive parking bills and dead batteries.
“There are cases where someone will leave the vehicle for more than a year and then come back,” he said.
Maluleka said some motorists have faced parking fees of close to R80,000 before negotiations with airport management.
No policy yet for unclaimed vehicles
ACSA says it currently has no legal right to take ownership of abandoned vehicles.
For now, the vehicles remain parked while authorities continue to try to trace owners or financial institutions linked to them.
