There are multiple benefits to Rea Vaya – first is good public transport, of course, but job creation and youth empowerment come a close second.

Frans Masoga wanted a job ‘with regular pay’

WITH the hubbub of car hooters blaring and people hurrying to and fro as a canvas, the workers on the other side of the big yellow barricades calmly go about their labour.

These people are construction workers for Rea Vaya, adding the brush strokes to what will one day be the painting of Johannesburg that residents' have been hoping to see for years: a city complete with efficient public transport.

Various contracting companies are involved in ensuring that construction of the Rea Vaya sites progresses according to plan. One of these is Lonerock, which is responsible for the Rissik and Harrison streets phase of the project. The work here involves creating a double bus lane, and the job consists of reinforcing the roads so they can accommodate the weight of the buses.

Work in the area started in December 2010, but major construction is only beginning in early February. Lonerock employees have, up to now, been identifying and exposing services such as water pipes.

"At the moment, I have 13 workers, but there will obviously be more when the project is up and running," says site manager Nico de Villiers, though he can't estimate how many there will be in total.

The 13 employees include those digging up the existing road, community liaison officers, a safety officer.

Rea Vaya: creating construction jobs

Frans Masoga began his post as a labourer on 27 January. "I was self-employed before, buying and selling jewellery. There is no money in January, so I wanted something with regular pay," he explains.

Masoga lives in nearby President Street, and the job is a boon for him as it will put money in his pocket to buy more stock for his fledgling jewellery empire.

For his colleague, Vitrus Palane, it means being able to earn money in the first place. "I was volunteering at the Hillbrow Clinic for the measles immunisation campaign, but I didn't earn any money for that, so I was happy to get a job," he says.

He is not the only one the project has given employment. Teboho Melamu, one of the two community liaison officers, was also previously unemployed. The Mayfair resident says: "I got this through the ward councillor."

He works with Rebecca Lechaba, who last had a job in 2008. She explains that their role is to "help with recruitment, solve conflicts, monitor participation of workers and report on the progress of the job to the community and ward councillor".

The project not only provides employment, however; for some, it offers the opportunity to advance themselves. The safety officer, Jermimah Macheli, was a tea lady until she got the job at Lonerock, where she has been since October.

In all, the Rea Vaya development has, in its first phase, created a total of 6 479 jobs, focusing specifically on empowering the youth. Lonerock aims to fall in with this credo. "As a company, we believe in empowerment and really do try to help people," De Villiers explains. A single job is counted when a person has worked a total of 55 days.

"We help our sub-contractors get their grading by giving them a small section of responsibility and seeing how they do. If they prove themselves, we will then put them into the system and give them more work."

Lonerock is only one cog in the wheel, though, and other contracting companies will be following similar procedures as they work on the different phases of the Rea Vaya project. This will give young people who have not benefited from formal employment before a chance to enter the job market and prove themselves.

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