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October 2015
The City of Cape Town’s transport authority, Transport for Cape Town
(TCT), recently introduced the first all-women roads repair teambased
at the Ndabeni Roads Depot.
S
ix young women fromMaitland
Garden Village, Langa and Gu-
gulethu, have been appointed
as part of the Expanded Public Works
Programme (EPWP) within Transport
for Cape Town (TCT), in a bid by the
city to tackle gender transformation
head-on.
“The TCT Training Academy proj-
ect supports our firm belief that
gender should not determine one’s
fitness for employment or type of
work,” said Brett Herron, Mayoral
Committee Member: Transport for
Cape Town.
Women are generally under-rep-
resented in the transport sector. For
example, within TCT, women consti-
tute only 3,4% of those working in
road maintenance and storm water
infrastructure.
“We are confident that this pilot
project will assist us in changing
perceptions about the type of work
women can do. Thewomenwho have
been appointed to participate in this
programme all share a passion for
work that benefits communities and
have the desire to prove their ability
to compete equally in a workplace
that is commonly associated with
men,”’ said Herron.
A second team of women will be
employed during the 10 month pilot
project. The TCT Training Academy
has designed a monitoring system
that will draw all the relevant infor-
mation to develop the programme
further. We have plans to partner with
the private transport sector to em-
bark on developmental programmes
that will meet the industry’s require-
ments,” said Herron.
TCT’s Training Academy assisted
management at the Ndabeni depot
to identify suitable candidates from
the local database in accordancewith
the City’s ExpandedPublicWorks Pro-
gramme policy. The candidates were
tested and assessed on their ability
to perform the type of work required.
The city has allocated R500 000 for
training. This includes:
•
Storm water infrastructure: clean-
ing, unblocking, and repairing
pipes, manholes and catch pits
•
Footways: edging, paving, operat-
ing rollers and rakingof thepre-mix
used to repair surface patches
•
Roads: repairing potholes, surface
patches and edges, curb-laying,
and operating machinery
•
Line marking: painting straight
lines and legends on road surface;
planting of poles and signage;
stencilling of street names on
curbs; painting of curbs and street
name curb moulding
Apart from the technical aspect,
the women will also be given life
and entrepreneurial skills, conflict
management resolution and team
work.
Ndabeni was chosen as the ideal
environment for launching this pilot
project in terms of the infrastructure,
training, support and resources
needed to ensure that the women-
only team succeed.
“We are looking forward to see-
ing them working on the streets and
sidewalks of the city and hope that
this initiative inspires the private sec-
tor to appoint more women to posi-
tions that are generally regarded to
be the ambit of men,” said Herron.
■
Women repair maintenance team
Cement & Concrete