from FUTHI MBHELE in Durban
KwaZulu Natal Bureau
DURBAN, (CAJ News) – THE launch of the Fuze Aviation Academy Training Programme is a milestone move offering disadvantaged youth an opportunity to carve careers in the white-dominated aviation sector.
The academy, launched at the Oribi Airport in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) is also a boost to skills development and job creation.
KZN Premier, Nomusa Dube-Ncube, presided over the launch on Thursday last week.
“This is a ground-breaking initiative because it marks the entry of black men and women into what even today, 28 years into our democracy, remains a white-dominated industry,” she said.
Dube-Ncube said Fuze Academy trainees there represented the hopes of millions still in awe of the wonders of flight.
The trainees include 30 drone operators, 20 aviation engineers, 10 private and commercial pilots.
“You (trainees) are the realisation of dreams of the girls and boys of rural and urban areas of our province who want to enter this world of work that offers so many possibilities,” the premier said.
The Transport Education Training Authority (TETA) guided and supported the Fuze Aviation Academy during the critical stages of its development path.
The academy has also entered into a partnership with the provincial government through the Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs.
The Fuze Aviation Academy opened in 2021.
Dr Thandeka Ngcobo, Chief Executive Officer of the Fuze Aviation Academy, said eventually, the organisation aimed to expand into the industry and serve under-serviced towns in KZN.
“The aim is to penetrate the aviation industry but we want to get to inner route as a province where other airlines are not going, to collect people from Lundi, Newcastle and Mkhuze,” Ngcobo said.
– CAJ News