A female pilot docking one of the world's largest container ships? It's true.
Not only is she a female pilot but a black one, too. From the rural Qanda village in the Eastern Cape, Olwethu Mtsewu-Sisilana made history when she docked the fully laden, 400m long MSC Nichola Mastro in the Port of Ngqura without a hitch.
Of course, she didn't do it alone. To give you an idea of the size of the ship, it is as long as four football pitches!
A huge responsibility rested on her shoulders and she couldn't let it fail or she would have made news headlines in a bad way.
The ship's captain was also on the bridge with her and gave her the necessary information about the ship.
She also had a student pilot (another woman) and, of course, four tugs to guide the ship into the harbour and dock it safely.
It took three long hours to manoeuvre the mammoth ship into the harbour and dock it. Mtsewu-Sisilana breathed a huge sigh of relief when it was all over.
She admitted it was a nerve-wracking experience. But she had proved a woman could do it. The sailors were so surprised to see a woman harbour pilot that they kept referring to her as 'sir!'
Transnet has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. At least, now we hear it is doing something good — empowering women in jobs once reserved only for men. And how these men have been enriching themselves. Right now, the locomotive gang is in the dock to answer for a fraudulent R90 million Spanish locomotive tender. Eich! What a woman can't do! | T MARKANDAN Kloof