Cape Town – More than 90 residents from Bonteheuwel received employment yesterday.
They are among the workers who will be part of the fibre installation process.
At the moment, workers are digging trenches and ducts are being placed underground.
Once completed, fibre is then pressure floated through the ducts.
The building of the network will take about six to eight weeks.
Residents will have to place an order with an internet service provider of choice if they are interested in fibre.
Deborah Ruiters, who started working at the project, said: “Being employed will help me a lot.
“Tonight I will start with my matric classes and I need to pay for each subject.
“I want to thank Angus McKenzie (ward councillor) for everything he is doing in the community.”
Haroon Williams, who will start work tomorrow, said: “I am excited to be employed and willing to put in 100%.
“It is important to have internet access, especially when you have children.”
McKenzie said he was excited about the roll-out of fibre in the area.
“For the last few years residents have requested fibre for various reasons but more specifically employment.
“We worked excessively hard in getting this project up and running.
“The opportunities now become endless for the people of Bonteheuwel.
“Once the project is finished, many of these individuals will be working directly with contractors and others will be part of various other projects in partnership with Vumatel.
“Bonteheuwel has dramatically changed over a short period of time. It’s testament to a community who has bought into a vision that places the interest of all on top of the radar.
“In creating change it’s important to note that during a time of war it’s difficult to change.
“Gangsterism plagued us but we fought back and we won.
“Now that we are safer we must accelerate the delivery opportunities to holistically change the lives of our people,” he said.
Regional director for Vumatel in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, Ewald van der Westhuizen said job creation was a crucial part of their projects.
“We work closely with the ward councillors in an area and make use of the job seekers database to employ unemployed individuals within the area.
“These job seekers are then partnered with our main contractors who assist them with developing the skills required to deploy our infrastructure.
“In the short term we create jobs in the civil component of our project and medium- to long-term we create additional jobs fulfilling functions such as installations and maintenance on the network as well as sales functions.
“It is important to us to use job seekers in the specific area we are building as we believe the community should benefit from the project and be part of the deployment in their area.
“There is a sense of pride and accomplishment when you are involved in the upliftment of your community,” he said.
Weekend Argus