Know your Benoni: Pulling out all the stops
Employment is all Alfred Mokoena wants for Christmas.
The 26-year-old can be seen at the intersection of Great North and Kei roads, wielding a plastic sign, asking for donations.
What some may not have noticed is his matric certificate and a six page CV.
The Wattville resident has been unemployed for 15 months, but he is determined to find full-time employment and live his dream helping people.
Mokoena matriculated in 2008 from Shakhane Secondary School, in QwaQwa, in the Free State.
His highest mark is for life orientation (59 per cent), followed by mathematical literacy (53 per cent), with the lowest mark being business studies (31 per cent).
He relocated to Gauteng in 2010, where he held menial employment as a labourer in the construction industry, a gardener with a garden service and lastly, a worker at a company manufacturing anchors.
He was left redundant at the manufacturing plant when his contract of three months expired.
Since then, he has hit the streets in a bid to secure full-time work, but also applying as a waitron at Mugg and Bean and a groundsman within the police – with no success thus far.
“It is too difficult to get a job,” Mokoena told the City Times.
“Some people think that I come here for money; they don’t trust me.”
“Some of them say to me: ‘you have a matric certificate, so you don’t like working’.”
He said he is forced to scavenge for money on the street to support himself, but would “appreciate” a job.
“I would appreciate any job that is given to me,” he said.
Mokoena said he is skilled in building, plastering, tiling, plumbing and electrical work, although that is not his passion.
“Since I was at school I wanted to be a traffic cop or a social worker,” he added, saying he enjoys working with people.
When asked if he would work over the festive period, he said: “Truly speaking, I want to go home on December 21 to be with my family, but If I get a job now I will work and appreciate it.”
To assist Mokoena, contact 076 011 8548.
