Best Career advice: From Gauteng city lights to feeding the nation

Life is never is never so stagnant but it is so dynamic that XOLISWA MAVIS MABAYI finds herself moving from a theology class to farming far away in the Eastern Cape.  The former Bible study girl will soon be getting her hands dirty as she toils in the pig sties making sure that South Africa eats. She spent four years studying the Bible but was not fulfilled. After some time working with vulnerable children and after a horrendous rape ordeal she now bounces back to feed the nation food, not the word of God. She speaks to Thembi Masser while munching on  a raw pumpkin on her exciting new venture. 

   

In December of this year she is going to Engcobo in the Eastern Cape to learn about farming. Her fascination with farming is not new and it is not because of the farmer she met after a funeral earlier this year. Her deceased,  aunt, Vangile Kweba, was an astute farmer. Her farm still supplies the local Spar supermarket in Engcobo with farm produce up to this day.

Xoliswa, now 27, used to visit the farm during the December holidays. Her aunt would then take them for a tour around the farm to show them her successes. But even during those days she was not even remotely interested. As a city girl she was only interested in glamorous occupations. Little did she know that years later she would return to the farm as an interested partner. She is now eager to get her dirty and feed the nation while making money for herself.   

“I suppose my college business studies will be handy when I eventually do farming,” she says softly. Xoliswa is reserved and cool, if not out right shy. But it was at Wordsworth High in Benoni were her dreams started taking shape. She wanted to be a nurse, probably because of the influence from her maternal grandmother, Mavis, after whom she is named. But later she wanted to be a lawyer but eventually she chose to study theology at Theological Education by Extension College (TEEC) in Rosettenville in Johannesburg.   

She decided to study theology probably of the influence from her work at the Charles Wesley Methodist Church in Daveyton where she was a keen member.  She spent four years at the TEEC. She dropped out after she was raped twice by a trusted family friend who was a ‘father to me.’ “Another reason I dropped out is that I fell out of love with theology; it was no longer interesting and when I was with friends it was always only me doing the odd occupation studies. Theology was not glamorous,” she laughs, embarrassed to such an observation.  

But before TEEC she studied for two years at Ekurhuleni East College for FET after failing her grade 10 at Wordsworth. Her parents were devastated that their model daughter failed a grade, but supportive nonetheless. At Ekurhuleni College she did a small business management and economics, office practise, computer typing, business English and sake Afrikaans courses. “I failed in the year in which I failed a career questionnaire.

“I was an interested learner at school although my confidence dipped when I was in high school. However, I was a member of the nature conservation club and was also an English Olympiad.” She also did cross country and shot put at primary level. Later when she was at high school she developed a liking for tourism. Maybe this was because tourism was one of her darling subjects at school. The other was Afrikaans.

After leaving theology she went on to work as a care-giver at the John Wesley Community Centre (JWCC). Her work involved working with orphaned and vulnerable children. “Now I am leaving the centre this December. The man at the funeral really impressed on me the positives of agriculture and I am giving it all my energy. You see, things are no longer the same here at the JWCC attraction to go into farming came at the right time.”

Her younger cousin has a qualification in agriculture and this motivates Xoliswa. “I am going to get my hands dirty. Africa is lazy; otherwise her children wouldn’t go hungry. While yes, agriculture is not glamorous like theology was, it is prosperous, rands and niaras beckon for me.”

She concedes that it will be a cultural shock to leave Gauteng for the rural Eastern Cape, but it is worth it. The future, she points out, lies with agriculture and that is why “I want to own my farm one of these days.”     

Pilot. Reaching for dizzy heights drives Bernard

Story by Ivy Mahlasela

Hannes Barnard achieved his private pilot licence on at the age of 18, and  his Commercial pilot's licence at the age of 21. He is an accomplished helicopter pilot now.

The passion for flying has been with him since his childhood. After obtaining his licences he worked as a pilot. As he progressed in the flying industry he has done ratings on piston engines, turbine and twin turbine  helicopters. He is night rated, sling rated and instrument rated and he also has an instructors' rating.

Through all the hard work he was inspired by his grandmother‘s words saying, ‘you can be anything you want to be, just believe and live out your dream’. Today his passion for flying is still expanding with hope and bigger dreams of having to start his own aviation school for the young children who have a dream of flying like he did.  

Dad's invisible hand pilots Trevor

Although his father has been absent from his successful life, TREVOR LUBISI smiles when asked about his whereabouts. Trevor is a life skills trainer at the John Wesley Community Centre (JWCC) in Etwatwa, Benoni. His mother died when he was six; and his father disappeared before that occurrence.  Today Trevor teaches people to forgive and make their lives meaningful. He speaks to Thembi Masser about life, Christianity and the purpose of his mission…and the invisible guiding hand of his dad.

Trevor does not forget the words of his mentor, the founder of the JWCC, Sue Skidmore. She reportedly said, ’I know you want to study engineering Trevor, which is good. I also know that you want to be a teacher. But let me tell you; you are probably the best informal teacher I have ever known. So stick with the JWCC, and teach people how to live meaningful lives’. Trevor duly listened to that counselling, and today he is a successful trainer.

He did acquire formal qualifications along the way; and he is presently busy with a B.Ed degree with Unisa as we speak. Years ago he obtained a certificate in psychology on HIV/Aids for which the JWCC paid, and did a one year basic counselling course thereafter. Then he completed   a weeklong (eish that was so expensive brother!) advanced workshop on community issues. Now, for eight years Trevor has trained the young and the old at the JWCC and across Gauteng. He is due to start a new workshop schedule in Limpopo with Andy Komane, a resident of Burgersfort.

According to legend, Trevor is a born community worker and activist. When he was in grade 11 at Phandimfundo High School in Etwatwa, a fellow learner died. Trevor then mobilised his school mates to pass high school and do something for the community in honour of their fallen mate. It did not end there, his enthusiasm. He taught other learners on instructions of his teachers. “”I taught them science, maths and biology,” he remarks. Teachers used to implore him to remain after school so as to inspire others not to leave. “They asked me to lead by example. They said if I left then others would not be motivated to do extra classes.”

While he did not have money to do Saturday classes with those who paid up, he attended free Saturday classes with those unfortunate like him to do extra classes in maths. His group so prospered that those paying for extra classes floundered and soon returned to join him! 

there are many advices that Trevor got along the way when he was building himself up. He remmberes an America man called Roger, who was then 40 years old. Roger said that it was unfortunate that at 40, he did not have a house of his own. He was divorced and he told me that he was going back home to find a job and start all over again to build himself a home." So Roger adviced Trevor

to make sure he build himself and his family a home way before he became 40.

  

“I duly listened to this piece of wisdom, and I surprised many when I built my house with my supposedly meagre JWCC earnings.”

The other advice that stuck on his mind and helped him get going was from a 65 year-old white South African. The man told Trevor save a hundred rand from all monies earned. He told Trevor that earlier in his life he helped build multinational companies that still prosper presently. But he did one thing wrong, he neglected to save wisely. And because of that neglect here he was, at 65, looking for employment. And penniless. So he advised Trevor never to follow this senseless, reckless foot journey, but to go along with success-and put a hundred rand away for prosperity.

Since then Trevor has worked doubly hard at the JWCC and at other organisations. The slogan ’Conquer the world’, has helped him to push hard in his pursuit of prospering, and achieving the unthinkable. “You see, I work with a disciplinarian,” he points out, referring to the JWCC manager, Philip Sharp. “He is a man of strict demeanour, this Mr Sharp, and I abide by him. That also goes for Pastor Mchunu, who always c checked my sense of dress.”

The only people who did not advice Trevor accordingly are his past teachers at high school and his parents and uncle. He was a lively learner, he says, at Phandimfundo in Etwatwa, good in maths, science, biology, and economics, Zulu, English and Afrikaans. His primary education was done at Nkatha Zulu.

Today he is qualified in psychology, facilitating skills, disease awareness skills and computer literacy. He is a social trainer. “I train children, adults and I go out to conduct workshops all over. Soon I am going to Limpopo to establish a brand new training schedule in life skills for the rustic people over there.” 

And he has a special word for his assistant, Busi Ngwenya. “What a lovely lady,” he enthuses with a twinkle in his eye. “She is indispensable.”

Trevor was raised by his uncle in the absence of his parents. “My uncle said to me, ‘Your mother is late, so we take you in with us because your father is useless, he is nowhere to be found’. And true to uncle’s word, I have never seen my father. What I know is that he was a pilot in Mozambique, and that he is very educated. On the day my daughter was born he phoned. It was a miracle that he did. He said I must name my daughter Victoria, my mother’s name. Luckily Andiswa, my wife, did not object. Another miracle happened when I was conducting workshops in Potchefstroom some time ago. He phoned to say that we must have a chat. He has since phoned several times, looking for an appointment for us to meet. Sure, I will meet him, and I will forgive him if that is what he wants.”

But the father, Loius Maloa, who is somewhere in Europe at the moment, has, unaware, given Trevor one valuable lesson-take care of your children, “I don’t have a child out of wedlock, and my wife is my only darling.”

And his mission in life? “To change the mind set of my community.” He wants to train them, to give them information, to change their way of life, and of thinking. “Many people believe that because things happened that way in the past, they can always happen that way again in the present, and in the future,” he complains. “These people are stuck in the traditions which are most of the time void.”

He believes the school syllabus can go a long way in making sure future generations think differently. “The authorities should include teachings on how to tackle life and prosper.”       

Lesego Setou:Lessons from my bosses

Lesego Setou

A saying goes, show me your friends and I will show you who you are.  I think there is some great truth to that but I also think it’s not only friends that shape us, it’s every soul we cross paths with. Our traits are the sum total of our interactions with different souls in this beautiful journey called life; the traits developed can be good or not so good depending on whom we choose to be and what we understood about that trait. I also think a greater part of the leaders we become is also influenced by the leaders we crossed paths with, those we equally admired and those we did not venerate. I therefore decided to share the beautiful lessons I have learned and strive to embrace as I experienced them from bosses.

Mariekie Gericke- My first boss; a highly focused person with high work ethics, she taught me that reading is an essential part of every person’s work. She encouraged me to always keep abreast of what is happening in my field of expertise. Spent an hour of your day, reading something that will either challenge you to do things different, empower you to be efficient or give you more knowledge about your field of expertise

Gusti Coetzer- Hard working, punctual, these are the two words that come to mind when I think of Gusti. I used to travel with this boss of mine to meetings and never have I seen her late for any meeting, she had respect for time. I also loved how hard she worked; she never expected anything that she could not give

Annelize van Rensburg- This boss believed in me, she is the person who advised me to wear a suit after my initial interview with her, because she knew what I needed to warm my way into the Managing Partner’s heart , she invested time in teaching me the ropes and was never tired of my endless questions

Rene Van Wyk- Always pay attention to detail, I used to cry every time she had to check my reports, but this exercise has paid off, you will never catch me, sending an email or report or anything with spelling mistakes or without proof reading it first

Reshika Ramprsad- Be good at what you do, give your best and know that eventually hard work pays off. I am yet to meet anyone who can do a job with outstanding efficiency and effectiveness as this boss of mine

S’thembile Nene- Trust your people and lead with love and respect. This boss was authentic, cared for your growth in all aspects, technically and financially, many bosses claim to have their people’s interests at heart but very few genuinely care about the financial well being of their subordinates

Brian Khumalo – This boss brought an interesting dimension to my life of work, consciousness, I am at this point engaging the world of employment knowing that there is something bigger to my role and that big thing is that, I am a channel for magnificence and my primary key performance area is to remind others of the greatness they are. Brian was also very good at building relationships

John Jepsen- Work hard and play hard, this boss of mine had a huge appetite for work, but once deadlines are reached, he will then make time to relax, travelling was one of his favourites. I therefore know the importance of taking time off

Jeson Ingraham- With love and kindness you will never go wrong. This boss had a beautiful heart; he genuinely cared for his people, something which we sometimes miss in the world of work.

I have worked with giants, different in some ways, similar in others, but I could have missed it all, if I also did not have a teachable spirit, an attitude that is open to learning and that I got from my first bosses my parents.

LIBRARY. South Africans don’t dig deep for information

Thembi Masser

Making decisions about careers and which field of occupation to follow is not an easy matter. Especially in South Africa where the majority of black Africans have no guiding light to shine in their way, either at schools or at home. But Glad Khoza, an information scientist graduate, was lucky. Her lecturer gave her valuable advice when all was gloom and dark for her. But now it is, like they say in the movies, mission accomplished.

There was not much advice Glad received from her high school in Mkhuhlu, Hobo Secondary, so she went to the University of Limpopo, Turfloop campus very much in the dark about the law degree she so much wanted to do. Even at school, the subjects she chose where no where related to the law studies she envisaged to delve in later in her life. She liked life orientation out of curiosity, it was interesting. And her teacher made easy to understand, he was not complicated. Her other subjects included history, agriculture, life sciences, mathematical literature and languages, English and Xitonga.

  

After her matric Glad, 22 now, went to the university to apply to study law but to her horror, applications for the law faculty were already closed. “I stood there with my hands on head,” she recalls. All the spaces available for law students were already filled up. So she settled for the smallest class she could find, information science. “But now I am not bitter about the switch, I love information science.”

She says you study information science to be information professional.  It is four years of study. She is now in her fourth year and is doing research at public libraries across the country. She will also do further practical work at her campus library.

“This year our class is the smallest ever, probably in all the universities in South Africa,” she laughs. There is only 76 of us, and the authorities always remind us that it is the biggest ever.”  One of their lecturers, Rachel Mahlatji, offered advice in their first when they still rookies. She was aware that they were disillusioned, hijacked into a class because there was plenty of space available for registration. But her students had no clue what information science was, only glad to be university students. She said, “Do your level best in this profession, you will not be sorry.” So they put their shoulders to the wheel and soldiered on.”  Ms Mahlatji said at the time the country needed cataloger and classifiers, and if we did well, there will not be unemployed, never.”

A cataloger is a person who catalogues library materials and a classifier classifies library material as well.  But you can work anywhere with this degree. Her studies have opened her eyes to very disturbing information- South Africans do not consume information at all. “What is happening is not even the tip of an iceberg. People do not dig deep to find information and to explore it. We stick with what we know and we do not examine and too much issues that confront us.”

Glad is happy at the moment, a far cry from the beginning of her studies at university. She started her education at the Saringwa primary then proceeded to Hobo Senior in Mkhuhlu, Mpumalanga.   

CHEF.TEACHING HOW TO COOK

By David Monyebodi
During her mid primary school years, Hlokota would gather kids (her peers and younger) around at her house after school hours to share some knowledge with them and the other way around.

Initially during her career decision there were two careers she had conceived in her mind; becoming a dietitian or a teacher. However, her second option became a reality. Having had done hotel keeping and catering at high school became advantageous to her decision making on studying towards hospitality studies which she studied for four years. She’s been a lecturer at an FET college since 2008, where she teaches hospitality studies. Teaching, motivating, guiding, assessing and facilitating students is her job and she believes that dedicating more of her time to her students “makes it easy to work with them” and they understand her even better as much as she does with them; given the fact that people have their own differences regarding their backgrounds and or their nature of understanding. Hlokota never wanted to work at basic education level schools but prefers higher education instead as she believes that the course demands more resources as it is too practical and at tertiary institutions the facilities are mostly available than at basic schools.

Despite the fact that they are at a training centre, her students take their learning seriously and professional as they are able to secure huge offers at professional level; where they are able to cater for big and small functions, both within and outside campus for ministers and or private and government officials. The support and understanding she received from her mother during her studies encouraged her to become even more persistent as the road was not smooth at all, more especially their mentors were so negative and discouraging back in the days. Today she has turned things differently from what she used to get, she encourages her students to never lose hope no matter what challenges they may come across. In 2011 and 2012, Hlokota managed to raise a bar by scoring 98 and 100% pass rate with her students in the subjects she teaches.. “I have a very supportive husband” she said, which she believes is a good thing and would do justice to her passion.

Like any other field, hospitality is very broad and one can branch into other professions within it and it is forever growing and the education system has come to the recognition of the constant growth and need for it to be equivalent to varsity level. Other related careers that one can pursue within the field are; hotel management, entrepreneurship (depending on one’s experience) just to mention a few. Hlokota’s advice is that one should dig deeper into their goals before making any final decisions as they may discover a lot more to their aspired goals and see things differently

. CAREERS. Challenges did not deter Mpembe

Having gone to township basic education, the political interruptions at the time didn’t hinder him from following his dream in media. He expanded his education to study towards an Advance Management course with Wits University and also took a short media courses at IAG.

Mpembe put to practice his management skills as marketing manager for the then Tri-Tech which is now known as VUT FM. “At Tri-Tech, my lecturer saw a lot of potential in me and encouraged me to become active in the media”, he added. His role as station manager is to oversee the overall operation of the station. Here we look at aspects like media and public relations which including coordinating with stake holders (churches, businesses and the community), the authority (ICASA) and other managers (programmes manager, sales and marketing manager, production and technical manager) as well as the board.

As a leader, one comes across certain challenges of which Mpembe confessed that it is indeed a mission to deal with people and their differences in terms of delivery at work in their respective roles; however, he always encourages his staff to exchange skills and share knowledge and ideas as a way to empower one another, “we circulate knowledge” he said. According to Mpembe, if one aspires to pursue a career in this profession, the key things are to listen, study, and be self-disciplined and get good management skills in order to be able to work

Having gone to township basic education, the political interruptions at the time didn’t hinder him from following his dream in media. He expanded his education to study towards an Advance Management course with Wits University and also took a short media courses at IAG.

Mpembe put to practice his management skills as marketing manager for the then Tri-Tech which is now known as VUT FM. “At Tri-Tech, my lecturer saw a lot of potential in me and encouraged me to become active in the media”, he added. His role as station manager is to oversee the overall operation of the station. Here we look at aspects like media and public relations which including coordinating with stake holders (churches, businesses and the community), the authority (ICASA) and other managers (programmes manager, sales and marketing manager, production and technical manager) as well as the board.

As a leader, one comes across certain challenges of which Mpembe confessed that it is indeed a mission to deal with people and their differences in terms of delivery at work in their respective roles; however, he always encourages his staff to exchange skills and share knowledge and ideas as a way to empower one another, “we circulate knowledge” he said. According to Mpembe, if one aspires to pursue a career in this profession, the key things are to listen, study, and be self-disciplined and get good management skills in order to be able to work with and for the community.

In explanation to the station’s success, Mpembe said that they do not compete but they penetrate into other geographical areas that are home to other community radio stations which makes their station unique and even extends its market. Recent South African Audience Research Foundation (SAARF) shows that, Kasie FM 97.1 stands at 200 000 listenership, which puts it at the top three in the Gauteng Province and Mpembe, with a big smile says those are the results of team work.ows that, Kasie FM 97.1 stands at 200 000 listenership, which puts it at the top three in the Gauteng Province and Mpembe, with a big smile says those are the results of team work.am work.