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Returned exiles, the unemployed and villagers
keen to bring electricity or better plumbing to
their communities meet at the Reef Training Centre
opened in 1990 by the Palabora Foundation to
provide the skills which many South Africans need
(the Foundation was set up in 1987 by the Palabora
Mining Company Ltd, an RTZ subsidiary).
About 500 men and women have graduated from the
centre, and some have stayed on to help there.
Around half have found formal-sector jobs and a
third have set up their own businesses. A business
course is being introduced.
The centre, 30 miles from Johannesburg, is on a
former game farm which has become the Ndabushe
Wildlife Sanctuary. The Foundation wanted somewhere
accessible from Rand townships but free of their
turmoil. Squatters living on the farm were
recruited to work for the centre. Some now hold
responsible positions there and in the
sanctuary.
Godfrey Coetzee, a director, says the Foundation
decided to teach building because of South Africa’s
housing problem, and the motor trade because it is
an African success story. A backyard industry has
sprung up to repair the black taxis which compete
with public transport.
John Addis, a consultant, devised the training
courses. These are broken down into modules which
students can take at their own pace. A woman,
Priscilla Mpala, outpaced the men by completing in
seven weeks a course normally needing nine.
Instruction is practical: plumbers install
pipes-they don’t just learn about them. The
centre’s certificates are recognised by building
employers. A visitor remarks on how well the centre
is equipped.
The ten instructors are not only well qualified,
“They are people who go an extra mile for our
trainees,” says Hugh Rix of the Foundation.
Teddy Daka, a returned exile, turned down three
other job offers because he wanted to help
underprivileged people. He is the centre’s remedial
teacher.
Lionel Clarke gave up a job as general foreman
with a major company to become senior training
officer with the building programme. He says he was
appalled by poor standards of skill in his
field.
Apart from the unemployed, the centre has
trained exiles sponsored by the African National
Congress, youngsters from children’s shelters, and
unskilled labourers losing their jobs in the
recession and offered retraining by their
employers. Most travel to the centre but some live
there during their courses. One who used to turn up
in a beaten-up old vehicle returned later in a new
Fiat. He is running his own business and employing
other former students.
Money for training the unemployed is a
continuing battle, says Hugh Rix. The centre cost
about £1.5 million to create and costs around
£600,000 a year to run. The Foundation, since
it was set up, has received £8 million from
the Palabora copper-mining company. But it runs
many projects: nursery schools for 800 children,
training of librarians and maths and science
teachers, adult education.
Companies and municipalities which send
employees to the Reef centre pay a higher fee,
which helps subsidise unemployed students. The ANC
and welfare organisations sponsoring students also
help. Several organisations offer bursaries.
Cuan Elgin, once a professional hunter, is
environmental manager responsible for the buildings
and for establishing the wildlife sanctuary and a
field study centre financed by Nestle which has
dormitories for 48 schoolchildren. Hundreds of
children come from township schools. So do scout
groups (to a camp), wildlife organisations, and
anglers who fish in the many dams.
The sanctuary is home to hippo, impala, kudu and
wildebeest, and 150 species of birds have been seen
there. Local people are allowed to cut thatch and
gather firewood in the sanctuary and they can buy
venison, pork, fish, chicken and vegetables
cheaply.
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