Today, 20 April 2008

Yesterday, 19 April 2008

Seaman Thabisile Goba (21) is witty, charming and attractive. She is also the only black woman in the country with a qualification from the South African Navy. Following three months of basic military training and four months of career-specific training aimed at introducing her to one of the toughest jobs on the Navy agenda, Goba is now a fully qualified navy fleet support diver.

"You're basically like a tadpole," she explains, with a tongue-in-cheek wit that appears to serve her well in the testosterone-charged environment at the Simon's Town Naval Base. "You help with the easier jobs, are taught how to identify mines and are given skills to do things like docking (lifting a ship out of water)." It is a far cry from the daunting tasks assigned to fully qualified career divers, but with one year's experience already under her belt, Goba is slowly building up the necessary skills to forge a successful career as a navy diver.

From the April/May 2005 issue of Cape etc. magazine.

Goba says it is encouraging to see people from previously disadvantaged backgrounds, like herself, being given the opportunity to explore a career path they may never before have considered. "I decided to do this out of curiosity. It always gets the better of me! I like trying different things," says the adventurous young woman whose daily routine involves running on the beach with heavy sandbags strapped to her back and swimming laps along the choppy False Bay coastline. "There is definitely a certain prestige associated with this job. I think it's because, physically, it's so challenging. Lots of people drop out of the training before they even qualify. It's very physical, every day, and it's mental too. They have certain ways of trying to break your mind to test how strong it is. There were 17 in my class when I started, and only 13 of us qualified."

But keeping up with boys has never been an issue for this feisty cadet, who professes to be a bit of a tomboy at heart. "That's where the heart and mind come in. If they can see I’m there and I’m trying, they respect that. The guys push me to finish because they know I want to do this," she says.