CT establishes four more women-only road repair teams

The teams across the city are part of the TDA's Women at Work Programme to empower women in the workplace by providing them with skills for work that is generally associated with men.

"Residents in Bellville, Kraaifontein, Ottery, and Plumstead may be surprised to see women fixing potholes and doing maintenance work on footways and stormwater pipes in their suburbs. The 24 women were appointed in March this year as part of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) within the TDA and are now based at the TDA depots in these areas. Each team consists of six members. They follow in the footsteps of the 24 pioneers who were selected in 2015 to be part of Cape Town’s first women-only road maintenance teams in Ndabeni, Fish Hoek, Heideveld and Kuils River," said the city’s mayoral committee member for Transport and Urban Development, Councillor Brett Herron.

Identifying suitable candidates

The TDA Training Academy assisted the management at the depots to identify suitable candidates from the local subcouncil job seeker’s database in accordance with the city’s EPWP Policy. The candidates underwent a physical assessment to test their ability to perform the type of work required and they were interviewed and evaluated by members of the depot management.

"The women are between the ages of 18 and 45 and are local residents from Bellville, Scottsdene, Lotus River, Parkwood, Ottery, Tokai, Steenberg, Retreat, and Delft. They have completed their initial training and are now out in the field where we are equipping them with indepth skills and on-the-job exposure. We have budgeted approximately R690,000 to establish the additional four teams and I am extremely proud of this programme which is aimed at empowering women and embedding a culture of gender equality on all levels within the TDA,’ said Herron.

The training and skills development covers a wide range of technical fields, including:

• Stormwater infrastructure: cleaning, unblocking, and repairing pipes, manholes and catch pits,
• Footways: edging, paving, operating rollers, and raking pre-mix used to repair surface patches,
• Roads: repairing potholes, surface patches and edges, laying kerbs, and operating a plant,
• Line-marking: painting straight lines and legends on road surface, planting poles and signage, stencilling street names on kerbs, and painting kerbs, and street name kerb moulding.

Building careers

"What makes this programme even more rewarding is the fact that it provides the women with a real opportunity to find permanent employment. The 24 women from Heideveld, Gugulethu, Ocean View, Masiphumelele, Maitland Garden Village, Langa, Kleinvlei, Wesbank, Mfuleni, Happy Valley and Green Park who were selected for our very first all-female road repair teams in 2015 were appointed in permanent positions at the City in October 2016.

"Thus, apart from the benefit of being permanently employed, they now have the opportunity to build a career for themselves within the TDA realm. I am confident that the new group of 24 women will make good use of the opportunity to gain as much experience as they can over the next nine months, while being temporarily employed as part of the EPWP. We are also in the process of establishing another three teams and will make an announcement in due course," said Herron.

The TDA Training Academy is currently developing a specific career advancement programme for the women-only road maintenance teams.