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| David Modiri Mokoto |
It is very rare to come
across a story like that of DAVID MODIRI MOKOTO, but it is real that he is a
self-taught road maker! It is also true that he has no formal qualifications to
construct a highway, but while you need a driving permit to drive a licensed vehicle
on the roads, he makes sure you drive peacefully and smoothly. Thembi Masser is
left on the sideways by this amazing story of courage!
It all started in the April of 2010 when he arrived at the
road construction company Stephanutti and Stocks. He arrived there to work
randomly as a general worker whose aim was to make ends meet. But he surprised
many with his work rate ans soon his supervisors elevated him to the position
of team leader and in no time he was a supervisor as well.
“I was hungry for knowledge,” David, 29, says. It was
competency and thirst for knowledge that drove him to his limits, to the edge
of his skills. “We were doing general work like piping, building manholes for
sewage and general road maintenance."
During that period he also completed a certificate in safety
and health courses. This lead to his appointment as a rep in that field. “I
taught myself how to do things,” he points out. “I wanted to know more, like
how is the road constructed.” A year later he got his chance when he and his
team built a road in Pomona, Kempton Park, near the iconic OR Tambo
International Airport. “ I built that road without supervision,” he gloats.
“Inspectors came in once or twice a week to give me thumbs up. Eventually after
six weeks I handed a completed half a kilometer road over to the
authorities.”
Still, up to the present, he does not know which
qualification he must go for in this field. “I have done no research into the
whole study thing.” But he is eager to work for established companies like
Group Five, Murray and Roberts, Moseme Construction and the company that gave
him a life line, Stephanutti and Stocks. At the present he has started with
Mapitsi Construction in Boksburg, Ekurhuleni. “You won’t believe it but my high
school geography is what has carried me through so far. I am able to read
drawings and inspect the soil. This helps me to use my common sense to complete
my work.”
When he finished the Pomona road project he was promoted to
a junior foreman. “Well, they did not give me a fat cheque to celebrate,” he
shrugs his shoulders, “but my salary increased considerably.”
Since then he has help build countless roads in Ekurhruleni.
While at school he always wanted to be an electrical
engineer. To pursue that dram he left his native Mahikeng in the North West to
enroll at the Ekurhuleni East College in Brakpan to do N2. But he promptly
dropped out of N3 because of financial constraints.
This lead him to the bottle store. He worked there as a
cashier and as a stock controller for six months until he went over to Fraser
Alexandra Tailings. “I worked as a pressure pump operator there,” he explains.
They pumped slurry from the deep of the earth into earth mounds. “I was trained
in-house. I did not have the qualifications to perform the job.” He was at
Fraser Alexandra for two and half years.
He did his primary schooling at Naletsana in Bodibe, North
West. Then it was off to Mphethuto, a middle institution school, before completing at
Baitshoko in Itsoseng. His favourite subjects were geography and biology. He
also did maths, Afrikaans, English and Setswana. “I had a crush on one of the
teachers but my favourite teacher was Ms Ramaoka. I wonder where she is today.”
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