Police helicopter pilot Lieutenant Colonel Kgothatso Khunou has been named among the country’s best under 40-year-olds in Mzansi for her exploits in the aviation sector, where she uses her skills to fight crime for the SA Police Service.
The Forty Under 40 awards and the winners were named on Saturday night at an event dubbed the Under 40 Champions Summit in Kempton Park.
Born in Rustenburg, Khunou, who had a fear of flying as a young village girl, was a winner in the aviation category of the awards, while 39 other winners were named in various sectors including agriculture, technology, media, insurance, finance, engineering and other fields.
The Forty Under 40 Awards aim to identify, honour and celebrate the nation’s most influential and accomplished business leaders under the age of 40 from a wide range of industries.
Khunou, who holds a commercial pilot licence and a diploma in biotechnology, said a career in aviation found her and not the other way around. As a teenager, Khunou kindled a dream of following a career in science.
She was offered a scholarship to qualify as a commercial helicopter pilot and she jumped at the opportunity, confronting her fear of flying head on. She would later join the SAPS in 2014 as a junior pilot at the rank of warrant officer.
Khunou is currently in her final year of obtaining a Diploma in Management (Aviation) and she is now a chief helicopter pilot attached to the South African Police Services’ Airwing unit in the Free State, where she is based at the New Tempe Airport in Bloemfontein. She is just one of 17 female pilots in the SAPS around the country.
On a daily basis, Khunou's duties include providing air support to ground units searching and searching for dangerous criminals and suspects from the sky. She also helps the police on search and rescue missions.
Police top cop, National Commissioner General Fannie Masemola congratulated Khunou for winning the award.
"We are immensely proud of both our pilots who were nominated in the aviation category for the Forty under 40 awards.
“This is an example of the pockets of excellence that exists in the SAPS,” said General Masemola.
Captain Zelda Ntuli, a fixed-wing pilot attached to the SAPS Airwing based at Wonderboom Airport in Gauteng, was nominated in the same category but lost out to her senior, Khunou.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Sindisiwe Chikunga, speaking at the event, said it was her department’s responsibility to place women and the youth at the centre of a plan by President Cyril Ramaphosa to build a green manufacturing sector over the next five years.
“It is our responsibility, as a department, to ensure that women, youth, and persons with disabilities are at the centre and not the margins of these projects,” she said.
"In light of the significant challenges faced by South African youth today-such as extremely high levels of unemployment, inadequate start-up funding, and traditional market barriers-this summit provides us with an ideal platform to discuss and map a collective way forward.
"At the end of this summit, I expect a comprehensive report on the engagements. These insights will help shape policies to support youth participation in the economy. It's time to move beyond lamenting and start designing scalable solutions for current and future challenges,” she said.
Chikunga said through the Technology Innovation Agency of the Department of Science and Innovation, government supported tech-based start-ups via the Innovation Fund, helping young innovators commercialise their ideas in areas such as green energy and biotechnology.
IOL