Jozi@Work has given me my life back – young mother
17-04-2015
“I no longer have to rely on other people to feed and clothe my children,” said 34-year-old Chiawelo, Soweto, resident Refiloe Mashabane.
Mashabane is one of hundreds of Johannesburg residents who are reaping the rewards of the City of Johannesburg’s Jozi@Work Programme, a R1 billion job-creation and empowerment initiative aimed at dealing with unemployment, poverty and inequality.
Mashabane, whose responsibility is to pick litter in the area around Chiawelo Clinic, said she was extremely grateful for the opportunity she was given to provide for her children.
“Before this opportunity I was unemployed. I felt hopeless as I had to rely on others to ensure my children did not go to bed hungry. The opportunity to access training is going to create so many possibilities for me. In short, Jozi@Work has given me my life back,” she said.
Mashabane was speaking during a visit by Johannesburg Executive Mayor Councillor Parks Tau and other members of the Mayoral Committee to three of the Jozi@Work sites in Soweto earlier this week.
The City started offering work packages to cooperatives and community-based companies registered under the programme earlier this year.
Bulelani Mabaso, whose Musa Telecoms is one of the business entities contracted to work at Chiawelo Clinic, said the programme was already having positive ripple effects in the community.
“The good thing about Jozi@Work is that it encourages locals to look after their own community. As it is, my 19 employees guard our site jealously because there is a sense of pride in the work they do,” said Mabaso.
After visiting the three sites – Protea Glen Extension 11, Chiawelo Clinic and Mapetla Gardens – Mayor Tau expressed excitement at the difference Jozi@Work was beginning to make in communities.
He said the programme was a shining example of a co-production model in action and would go from strength to strength through increased participation and the inclusion of other sectors in the future.
“The Jozi@Work programme, while relatively new, has shown great promise in action. I am very excited about the feedback we have received and the innovation demonstrated in finding solutions to challenges faced by communities,” he said.
The City has to date awarded contracts to 10 business entities that are at present undergoing extensive training with the assistance of the Capacity Support Agency (CSA) .
Member of the Mayoral Committee for Environmental and Infrastructure Services Councillor Matshidiso Mfikoe said the training partnership with the CSA was invaluable and would sufficiently capacitate cooperatives to ensure they grew.
“The optimal development of these cooperatives through training will ensure their sustainability and success for future opportunities in all sectors, not just in government,” she said.
The City aims to empower no fewer than 4 000 cooperatives and create more than 50 000 work opportunities during the first two years of the programme.
“We’ve set a very high target, which I am positive we will achieve. Once clear successes can be seen, we will have greater justification for allocating resources and local work packages,” he said.
The Mayor said the next community empowerment wave would be the rollout of the Community Innovation Fund, which was aimed at enabling budding entrepreneurs to come up with innovative ideas and solutions to assist the City in some of the challenges it faced.