I just found this on another forum, I'm also planning to go find work... Just hope this permit issue won't be a problem.
From Avcom :
guys,
i came to maun on 14 august this year and was fortunate enough to find work within a week.
that was the easy part, trust me!
permits, PERMITS, permits! therein lies the problem.
it took 3 months of beaurocratic red tape to get my permit, and my wife just found out that hers was declined.
this means that my salary wont be enough to cover our living expenses for the both of us, but i'm going off on a tangent now.
along with my wife who got declined, 3 other pilots who were offered jobs at the same company as me also got their permits declined, even though their applications were sent in at the exact time as mine. so i guess, i was extremely fortunate.
in short, there are lots of jobs in maun right now. people are leaving left right and centre, but the problem is this;
the botswana government is adament that no more expats will get flying jobs (and other jobs)untill all the local pilots have been employed first.
how many local pilots are there?
well, the CAAB, under instruction of the botswna government, has handed a 4 page list of unemployed local pilots to all the charter companies in maun at a meeting last week.
if you were in maun right now you'd ask where all these pilots are, and why are the charter companies reluctant to employ locals?
the answer - the newly qualified botswana pilots are sitting at home in gaberone (or wherever else). they are not prepared to do legwork and come up here like the many eager pilots from all around the wolrd who have taken the leap of faith to travel to a foreign country halfway around the world and against all odds to find work. they expect the charter companies to contact them.
in addition to that they expect to be given airline jobs with zero experience on their behalf. maun doesnt appeal to them, it's dusty, hot, hard work, 6 days a week.
i guess this is symptomatic of the whole of africa to sit and wait for the top job to come to you, and if it doesnt, create legislation to force people to do business with you.
that may be how you do business in africa, but the people who come to the delta are tourists from the 1st world who pay top dollar for that privelage, who expect 1st world service, and 1st world business practices.
the charter companies generally also have a 1st world outlook on the way they do business, and therefore they cannot employ people who have a notoriety for always being late (just look at air botswana), who have a poor safety record, or who expect to be contacted by prospective employers while they sit at home and play playstation.
it's a sad sad situation.
there are people who want to do the work but are refused permits, and there are people who dont want to do the work, but who will be given it.
so, i'm sorry to burst the bubbles of all the aspiring pilots out there, but maun right now is a total waste of time as you wont get a work and residency permit even if you have the best qualifications money can buy (not that jobs are allocated on merit anyway as someone mentioned before).