Yes, I Am A Pilot!

Yes, I am a Pilot! is a story of the realisation of a long-cherished dream. It is the story of a typical township girl turned pioneer, a young Black woman who has boldly staked her claim in a predominantly white male-dominated preserve – the South African Air Force. From modest Ntuzuma township to the hallowed precincts of the clockwork set-up of the military, Major Mandisa Mfeka has broken all manner of barriers – racial, gender, and class – to hold the distinction of being the first South African Black woman fighter pilot.

Born into a Black middle-class family, Mfeka boasts an accomplishment readily associated with white upper-crust offspring – the prized pilot’s licence, a qualification that has gifted her with the privilege of being part of the fly-past at the South African president’s inauguration. Mfeka’s biographer, the ebullient and frank-talking Ongkopotse J J Tabane, chronicles her awe-inspiring journey from childhood through her fascination with aircraft and gritty endeavours to the fulfilment of her career dream.

Every Black girl, every township and rural girl should read Yes, I am a Pilot! and be inspired by Major Mandisa Mfeka’s thrills and travails to believe that: Yes, I too can be anything I aspire to be.