Mugabe's fighter pilots to combat racism in S. Africa

At home dire shortage is causing ox wagons and steam engines to be brought into service again, but Zimbabwe's air force pilots have a mission in their much more powerful neighbour - to rid the South African air force of racism.

A new agreement between the two countries will see President Robert Mugabe's pilots - who can scarcely get airborne at home for lack of fuel - training South Africa's military pilots.

The experience is likely to give them a few surprises. Although Mugabe has just returned from China with a deal for new aircraft,
these are basic trainers and obsolescent copies of Soviet planes. By contrast, South Africa has modern Swedish Gripen fighters and advanced British jet trainers.

But there is a shortage of pilots to fly them and mechanics to service them. Skilled white personnel have deserted the armed forces, largely because of a lack of career opportunity and poor pay. And attempts since the end of apartheid to promote the training of black South Africans has not generated sufficient skilled personnel.

Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota for this reason accused white flying trainers of racism and in 2003 ordered that black trainee
pilots should be allowed to continue their training, even if they had repeatedly failed tests.

A rethink of this policy became necessary, when in April this year a trainee pilot who had failed twice was nevertheless sent on a solo flight, despite the reservations of his trainer. He died when his aircraft crashed.

"Lowering standards is a death sentence," ran the headline in the South African Sunday Times.

According to the report, South African military pilots are passed even if they secure only a 40 per cent result in their tests, but the
hoped-for corps of black pilots still has not materialized.

Lekota told the paper that Zimbabwean flight trainers should now be tasked with eliminating racial discrimination in training jet
pilots. This situation places the spotlight on the problems that South Africa faces 11 years after the first democratic elections.

Apartheid left the country with a shortage of trained black people. And these few skilled blacks have been lured to the private
sector with attractive pay and conditions, partly as a result of state-imposed quotas.

South African civil aviation pilots also have a good reputation around the world, as a result of the strict training they underwent. Many of them are flying for companies in other parts of the world, some even for the United Nations.

While the South African government is battling to find sufficient qualified pilots for the cockpits of its advanced jets, highly
motivated U.S. pilots are making the trip to the country for training. The attraction is a military jet museum in Cape Town, which
contains aircraft from the Cold War era. U.S. test pilots are keen to try them out.

Deutsche Presse Agentur