VISA advice (Cape Town)

Hi, everyone.

I am currently in quite a complicated situation, regarding VISA.
I was on a gap year in Europe and met my boyfriend (who is French) while I was travelling. We have been together for 7 months now, doing distance on and off the whole time to work around my VISA's.

The problem is that next year I am going to study at UCT, so I won't be able to leave and come back, or jump around like I have been doing for the last while, and he is only allowed to be in South Africa for 3 months at a time. We are also tired of having to leave each other constantly, and want to try and find a way to stay together, so we are trying to find out about a long term VISA that he could get for South Africa.

He never finished school, so going to study at university isn't an option, even though I have heard that it is the easiest way to get a (semi) long term VISA. He is very hard working, and will do anything to be allowed to stay, but we are having trouble finding something for him to do. We have been seriously considering him doing an apprenticeship of sorts, or a course in a craft like boat building, carpentry, or something similar (He likes to do work with his hands). Would something like this be a viable option for a study VISA, or are there strict regulations about it having to be a school-type setup? (He doesn't do well in a classroom setup)

Any other ideas regarding a sort of course or job that he could get, or a different sort of VISA to try for, would be greatly appreciated.

PS: He was working on an organic farm in Ireland for 2 years as the manager, so knows quite a lot about that kind of work. Although obviously farming in Ireland is very different than in the Cape. I don't know if that's a skill we could use?

Thank you so much for your help!
Enya Munting