Getting in the door at SAA?

[SethPowell]

Hi everyone. Am toying with the idea of hanging my hat in SA. Just might be falling in love with a lovely Cape Town lass.

Up here in the States, I'm still working on completing my A&P certificate (Airframe & Powerplant technician (i.e., aircraft mechanic)). I've been following the business news briefs about SAA and it seems like they've been losing good people left and right (High attrition at SAA Technical).

Anyone know how best to pursue - if it's at all possible to pursue - employment with SAA Technical, or to get my foot in the door elsewhere within SAA? I'd think that having an A&P certificate would make me a "worthwhile" immigrant, but I've also been told that South African businesses are more concerned with getting the native non-whites rightly enfranchised.

(Also, how easy is it to buy a reliable, inexpensive, Honda/Toyota-type auto - with the steering wheel on the wrong side - down there?)