Gibela concerned about escalating unrest
Gibela is concerned and disappointed at the ongoing pattern of community unrest in Duduza due to misconceptions being spread by alleged community representatives.
In a press release received on Monday, Pamela Radebe, Communications Director at Gibela, says the pattern is seemingly fuelled by the dissemination of misinformation regarding the company’s recruitment practices by entities claiming to represent the Duduza community.
Gibela is currently building a R1-billion train manufacturing facility in Dunnottar which will employ 1 500 people full time once fully operational.
Read: Angry residents demand jobs, burns post office and Duduza Multipurpose Centre
“The 4 000m² training centre forms part of the facility which will be a conduit for the training of thousands of people for the SA railway sector as a whole over the next 10 years,” says Radebe.
Gibela and its contractors are required to prioritise historically disadvantaged South Africans (HDSAs) nationally for jobs, training and the supply of goods and services.
Radebe says the major misconceptions are that:
• Duduza takes precedence over other communities in terms of jobs and training.
• Gibela and its contractors, in breach of Gibela’s contract with PRASA, are recruiting foreign-owned companies as suppliers, and excluding HDSA-owned companies.
Radebe says while neither is the case, and this has been communicated extensively and emphatically via an active public participation process over the past two years, protest action emanating in and from Duduza has escalated over recent weeks.
Read: Security company blocks access to Gibela’s Dunnottar site
Time-sensitive construction work at the manufacturing facility has been disrupted as a result, threatening completion of buildings key to the start of train manufacture and the training of recruits.
Gibela has recently engaged with community representatives at meetings facilitated by MMC for Economic Development Doctor Xhakaza and metro pubic relations councillor Thabo Motaung, to discuss and agree a road map for community engagement going forward.
At the request of the community, Gibela appointed two liaison officers to report to Motaung.
Statistics tabled by Gibela show contractors working on the construction of the manufacturing facility have created 680 jobs since the start of construction in 2016, 66% filled by Ekurhuleni residents.
While some jobs were of temporary duration, 450 people are currently working on site, 71% of them for Ekurhuleni.
Of these, 210 are from the immediate vicinity of the site, 64 of whom are from Duduza.
“While, in respect of both full time employees and trainees, HDSA Ekurhuleni residents are being targeted, this is not to the exclusion of national applicants,” says Radebe.
