Glo-sponsored CNN African Voices celebrates first South African female pilot

The Globacom-sponsored CNN African Voices, will this weekend celebrate Asnath Mahapa, the first female pilot in South Africa.

Globacom, in a press statement in Lagos on Thursday, stated that viewers across the globe will have the opportunity of seeing the South African pilot tell her inspirational story on the programme. 

Mahapa, who explained that she defied her father to follow her dream said, "When I told my father I wanted to become a pilot, he never even entertained the idea", adding that she did not give up.

"It just dawned on me that those big things that we see in the skies, someone is actually in charge of them," she tells CNN. "I thought if someone can fly this thing that means I can also do it."

Mahapa who became a pilot in 1998 also went ahead to open African College of Aviation in 2012 to help women who aspire to become pilots, thus fulfilling her passion for training and inspiring a new generation of pilots.

The programme will also feature Michael Purchase, a pilot from Kenya who will also talk about his work as a Conservation Officer at Loisaba Conservancy in Laikipia in the northern part of Kenya.

Purchase, a conservationist working to protect the earth’s most precious treasures, combines his passion for flying with his love for wildlife and the environment.

The 30-minute magazine programme which comes up at 9.30 a.m. on Friday is also repeated at 3.30 a.m. and 1.30 a.m. on Saturdays, and 6.30 p.m. on Sundays. The show will also be aired on Monday at 10:30 p.m. and on Tuesdays at 4.30 a.m.