SOUTH AFRICA: First female drivers start operating Johannesburg's Gautrain in keeping with President Zuma's drive to push for more private sector jobs

Record ID: 452258

  • Title: SOUTH AFRICA: First female drivers start operating Johannesburg's Gautrain in keeping with President Zuma's drive to push for more private sector jobs
  • Date: 30th March 2011
  • Summary: JOHANNESBURG; SOUTH AFRICA (MARCH 20, 2011) (REUTERS) PASSENGERS WAITING ON TRAIN PLATFORM
  • Embargoed: 14th April 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: South Africa, South Africa
  • Country: South Africa
  • Topics: Employment,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAC6P5QZTKK37P32TPPHVKCCE7B
  • Story Text: Passengers riding Johannesburg's high-speed transport system Gautrain this week may not have noticed anything unusual about their journey, though many will have been travelling for the first time under the steer of the company's first female drivers.
    The train service opened up training to women earlier this year and the company's first recruits hit the tracks last week.
    One of the first drivers to take to the train's control carriage was Sharon Phiri, who worked as an administrator within the company before the opportunity to become a driver was presented to her.
    The 28-year-old mother of two girls comes from Tembisa, one of South Africa's large townships situated on the East Rand in Gauteng province.
    "When they gave me a call and told me okay fine we are thinking of taking women to be one of the first divers of the Gautrain, if you go through the training and pass all your modules you will become one of the first divers of this train," she said.
    But it wasn't until she passed her exams that the reality of her new position sunk in.
    "When I passed the modules and everything that's when it really clicked that you know what, from where I am coming from, I used to work as an administrator for my college that I went to, so it was like a huge a development in my life you understand, it was like a big break for me, so I am really blessed where I am today," said Phiri.
    At Gautrain's control room at station headquarters Phiri's co-workers say they are delighted to welcome the new female workforce to the team.
    "To work with Sharon, she is very nice lady, very friendly, very passionate you know, every time you ask her service, she is available I feel very honoured to have Sharon as one of our lady train divers," said supervisor Eddy Ngwenya.
    South Africa's first rapid transport system was completed last year to tie in with hosting of the 2010 World Cup.
    Costing a massive 24 billion rand (3 billion US dollars), Gautrain is just one of a number of infrastructure and manufacturing projects funded by an injection of capital by the Gauteng provincial government over the next three years, which officials hope will lead to massive job creation in the province.
    The move ties in to an announcement made by President Jacob Zuma at the beginning of the year that 2011 will be South Africa's "year of job creation".
    Under a scheme called New Growth Path, Zuma said the government aims to create five million jobs by 2020 and reduce unemployment by 15 percent.
    As part of the scheme, Zuma reached out to the private sector and announced 20 billion rand (2.75 billion US dollar) in tax allowances to promote investment and expansion in the manufacturing sector.
    But the government's plans for job creation have been marred by strikes and protests in the past few months by some of South Africa's biggest public sector unions, demanding higher pay.
    Protests among truckers and mine workers that turned violent after the police tried to break them up, dramatically reduced the country's fuel supply and temporarily disrupting South Africa's manufacturing network.
    They were called to halt when workers accepted an above inflation wage increase of 9 percent in the last week of February.
    But the industrial action was widely condemned by the government who said wage increases would further cripple the country's struggling economy.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: Footage contains identifiable children: users must ensure that they comply with local laws and regulations governing the publishing of this material.
Register