Local Ward 15 Councillor Joel Masilela postponed a protest meeting of jobseekers looking for employment at Ford Motor Company, which is situated just outside Mamelodi in Tshwane.
According to Masilela, the peaceful protest meeting was postponed because the management of Ford Motor Company announced that they were willing to meet with a delegation of local job-seekers to sort out the company’s tendency to employ foreigners and people who hail from outside of Tshwane.
This at the expense of local residents who are living in poverty as they are unemployed.
“It is self-evident that our streets in our respective communities in Tshwane are always full of people be it at night or during the day; which is an indication of the fact that many people are unemployed,” said Masilela.
He said as a leader he can not only fight for service delivery while his fellow residents, particularly the youth and women are languishing under the scourge of unemployment.
“Our people are excluded from participating in the economy of a country wherein they were born, so the meeting which will be held with Ford Motor Company management will take place either on Wednesday or Thursday and will address various categories of people seeking jobs at Ford Motor Company,” said Masilela.
“The first category is that of unskilled job-seekers who will need internship programmes to equip them with the required skills for the job they would be employed in,” he said.
“The second category is that of semi-skilled job-seekers who might have acquired a minimum level of skills that are acceptable and the third category is that of highly-qualified job-seekers who are unemployed despite their qualifications,” explained Masilela.
He said a voice note and video message would be distributed via social media for job-seekers who got impatient and left before he could address residents on the way forward and the postponement of the protest meeting, so as to make them part of the process of job and economic opportunities, and also thank them for having stood up to change the status quo regarding job opportunities.
Masilela said it can’t be right that residents consume or use products which were produced in their own locality yet they were not part of producing such goods.
Tshwane Talks spoke to several job-seeking residents who were standing at the Gate1 of the Ford Motor Company waiting to be employed.
Refilwe Rapholo (34) of Phase1 informal settlement told Tshwane Talks that she came to Ford Motor Company premises after receiving a message from members of the community that unemployed members of the community must gather at the said premises as Councillor Joel Masilela had apparently made arrangements with Ford Motor Company officials to hire local residents.
Rapholo said it is sad that foreigners and people coming from Limpopo Province are the ones who are working at Ford Motor Company while they as locals remained unemployed.
Rapholo said she has been unemployed for three years now and that she is dependent on her husband, who works for Fedility Guards security company.
She said she was prepared to take up any job, be it as a cleaner or gardener and added that a salary of at least R4000 or so would make a difference in her life.
“Even if they don’t employ all of us it would be okay if they employ some among us who are local residents and Ford Motor Company officials must stop taking bribes and hiring only foreigners because we are prepared to do any kind of work including washing cars, picking up the papers or cleaning the premises so that we can get some kind of income,” said 32-year-old Donation Mafoyeka.
18-year-old Lethabo Masemola, who passed Matric last year, said she is desperately looking for a job so as to acquire funds which would help her further her studies at tertiary level next year.
She expressed disappointment that the Councillor had cancelled the meeting whereby they as jobseekers would hand in their CVs to Ford Motor Company officials.
“It is very unfair for one to grow up here in Mamelodi where there are so many factories yet remain unemployed,” said Elizabeth Sfenyane who has been unemployed for six years now and is 38-years old.
She told Tshwane Talks that she has been submitting her CVs at Ford Motor Company for over six years now and all this time she has been told that she would be contacted should an opportunity arise.
39-year-old Aline Schruywer has been unemployed for five years now and said it was only fair for Ford Motor Company to prioritised residents of Mamelodi, Eersterust and Nellmapius when looking for employees.
“I am selling fat cakes and ice pops to make a living as I am jobless and it is unfair that people from outside this area have been employed ahead of us,” she fumed.
She revealed that she and some of her unemployed friends in Eersterust were really struggling as they still have school-going children whose fathers are either on drugs or in prison, yet no one is taking their plight seriously as unemployed women.
She thanked and praised Councillor Masilela for taking the initiative to find job opportunities for them as residents and stressed that she doesn’t want R350 grant as it is not enough.
Tshwane Automotive Special Economic Zone (TASEZ) official Khutso Smetjane from Tazes stakeholder manager told Tshwane Talks that TAZES has a clear understanding with the local community and that they have nine CLOs with whom they have a working relationship.
He said they will engage with Ford Motor Company officials and see if they can’t maybe use the same recruitment process that they as TASEZ use, and that they will communicate the outcome of the meeting through Councillor Masilela.
“Going forward TASEZ will make sure that locals are prioritised in terms of employment because we have heard reports that some people who are not local residents have used fraudulent proofs of residence documents to gain employment at the expense of locals,” explained the official.
He said he would investigate rumours that there is a company in TASEZ that has employed more Zulu-speaking people than locals.
He revealed that recruitment at TAZES takes place through CLOs who are based in every ward in the region, but that the final decision as to who gets employed comes from the management of TASEZ.
He warned residents to stop giving their tenants proof of residence documents as the said tenants use those documents to seek employment and also warned residents to report jobs for sale or jobs for sex to TASEZ so that such matters can be dealt with accordingly.