defenceWeb Written by defenceWeb - Retired SAAF general Lucky Ngema in the cockpit. Retired SA Air Force (SAAF) two-star general Nhlanhla Lucky Job Ngema was, according to the SA National Defence Force (SANDF), the first black South African to qualify as a licenced air transport pilot. He was also, SANDF social media has it, the SAAF’s first black general officer and founder of the air force’s aviation awareness programme Siyandiza (We Are Flying). During his years in exile including a stint in Nigeria, Ngema managed to qualify for a Zimbabwean work permit as a pilot doing development work and flying surveyors all over Zimbabwe.