Asnath Mahapa

46-year-old Asnath Mahapa made history in South Africa when she became the First African Woman to become a Commercial Pilot. She also became the first African woman to acquire an Airline Transport Pilots license. Her inspiring story is about how she broke career and social norms. She was born in October 1979. She grew up in Limpopo Province and did all her schooling in Limpopo until she finished Matric. She fell in love with flying at the age of 13. Curiosity about why aircraft manage to stay in the air is what inspired her to consider this career. In 1998 Asnath started with her training in Polokwane at G&L Aviation and then moved to Progress Flight Academy later that year to finish off her Private Pilots License. She went on to complete her Commercial Pilots License at the end of October 1999.

She joined the South African Airforce in 2001 until December 2002. She went on to fly for the United Nations, The Red Cross and DHL until January 2007. During this period, she operated mainly in Central and West African Countries. She joined South African Express from July 2007 and worked there until January 2010. Asnath started flying for South African Airways (SAA) from February 2010. She flew as a First Officer on the Airbus 320, Airbus a340-300/600s and Airbus 330-200/300s. She is currently a Captain on the Airbus a320 flying Regional routes for SAA. Asnath is the founder of Asnath Matsobane Mahapa Foundation (‘AMF’). AMF was established in 2017 and as a registered non-profit organization (NPO). AMF was established to assist and empower young women and young men from disadvantaged backgrounds by exposing them to STEM programmes and providing mentorship. She was a Director of the board for Girls 4 Girls (G4G) organization. G4G is an organization which exposes young women to women leadership, mentorship and access to effective education and training. Asnath has in the past four years embarked on motivational speaking to inspire young women and young men to find their preeminent purpose.