Last week Thursday, I spent the day at the premises of The Association for the Physically Disabled in Bridgetown, Athlone.
I, with my colleague, Traverse Le Goff, was invited by an old and trusted friend whom I met about 35 years ago when he was an organiser in the trade union movement.
Terence Lategan has, subsequently, retired from commercial life but wanted to put some effort into the upliftment of his former community in Bridgetown, Athlone.
Terence followed in the footsteps of his beloved mother who brought up many children in Bridgetown on a pittance of an income. She was a great influence on Terence and his family.
They formed an organisation, Need, which was to try to create jobs for people living with physically disabilities and give back to the community that brought him up.
Out of his pocket, he and his trusted secretary, Carla, managed to get premises from the Association for the Physically Disabled and were able to furnish a room with equipment to enable them to dismantle old and broken irons, microwaves, computers and photocopy machines.
They then contacted Era, an entity set up to ensure that industry does not just dump old electronic equipment but manages to ensure it doesn’t go into landfills.
A fellow old Bridgetown inhabitant, Ashley du Plooy, was contacted by the Era executive director.
Ashley’s lifelong dream was to save the environment by ensuring electronic equipment was not put into landfills and, in that way, poison the earth. Together, they have created 60 jobs and their venture is destined to grow.
These are not ordinary jobs. Most of the people employed there are living with severe disabilities and are unable to find employment in the private sector.
Consider that almost 7% of our population lives with a disability and the government does not employ even 0.5% in its workforce. The community is the Cinderella community and could shine but has been forgotten.
The government has boasted that it can create a job with just over a R100 000 in expenditure and even then, it’s just a job opportunity that might last a week or a little longer.
Need and Era have created a miracle. They have sustainable jobs created on the smell of an oil rag.
Although the start-up capital had to come from Terence and although the stipends paid to each worker are not handsome, they have successfully put together a home away from home for the those living with disabilities.
The workers are unbelievably grateful to learn new skills and be part of a happy and productive work family.
When I arrived at the premises, I was taken aback by what I saw. The joyous banter and happy faces told me an enormous story. In my job as a labour lawyer, I am often at the workplace, in various factories and large groups of workers. Never have I seen people working so hard and so happily.
My discussions with a few individuals throughout last Thursday were an eye-opener. Much of my daily work is dealing with staff members who are unproductive and unhappy. This was the opposite of that. My time spent in the workshop reinvigorated me in my small quest to try to change the labour legislation and the regulations to create more jobs.
Here in front of me, I had an enormously successful enterprise in job creation. It was done quickly, efficiently and at little cost. It is destined to grow, and I wish Terence Lategan, Ashley du Plooy, Carla and her team much strength.
My faith in South African community members living with disabilities and those who don’t live with disabilities has been restored.
We, as South Africans, can do it and although the government has failed the workers of South Africa over the past 30 years, this is a lesson showing me that a few innovative individuals can do it on their own despite some negative legislation and an onerous regulatory environment.
* Michael Bagraim.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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