What motivated you to choose engineering as a career?
I completed my studies at the Salesian High School, Manzini, in 1973 where I studied metalwork and woodwork and thereby developed a love for creating things. In 1975 I was called before the Chairman of the Scholarship Selection Board, Prince Khanyakwezwe Dlamini, who told me I was being offered a scholarship to become one of the engineers for the Mpaka Airport. I had no idea at the time what he was talking about; I just wanted to become an engineer! My tertiary studies were in electrical and electronics engineering. On return from my initial studies in Canada in 1977, I joined the Government Ministry of Public Works in order to serve my country.
Specifically, what attracted you to aviation – how do you view the industry?
After completing a Post Graduate Diploma in the same field, this time at Cranfield Institute of Technology in the UK in 1984, I returned to Swaziland and was assigned by Government to join the engineering department at Matsapha Airport. This was my first contact with aviation.
What person or persons influenced you and inspired you?
The priests at Salesian School where I did all my primary and secondary schooling were a great influence upon me, with their selfless service to my country in the education sector.
What do you count as your greatest personal asset, and what quality or ability do you wish you had?
Honest love for service is what I would consider as my greatest personal asset. It would also have been nice to have the ability to generate wealth simply because this would help me to serve humanity even better.
Of which achievement in your business life are you proudest?
Starting SWACAA from scratch and sustaining it up to the present time is something that gives me profound satisfaction.
What mistakes are you aware of having made, and what did you learn from them?
In top management I have found that the major mistakes emanate from having to juggle different important stakeholder needs in the fulfilment of my mandate. These include, I have found, good governance from a Board of Directors point of view, political expectations and international requirements.
Which one piece of wisdom would you pass on to your successor?
Work smart, with dedication to doing the right things in the right way.
Do you have a motto, or principle, that you live (or work) by?
Don’t leave until tomorrow what needs to be done today.
What single social, economic or political change would you like to see happen globally?
I would love to see the day when the world’s wealth is shared among by all citizens of the world.
What are the best things about Swaziland?
Too many to enumerate! But if I have to pick, I would say its small size, making it a peaceful, homogeneous country.
How would you like to be remembered after your retirement?
I feel blessed and honoured to be part of the unfolding history of air transportation in the Kingdom of Swaziland. I would like to be remembered as someone who made previously unconceived of things possible in the development of the aviation sector in Swaziland.
Learn more about Swaziland Civil Aviation Authority
www.swacaa.co.sz
