Transport Department Achieving Gender Equity in Senior Positions

Government policy requires that fifty percent of senior positions be occupied by women. The Department continues to strive towards gender equity in senior positions, and this is evidenced by the recent appointments of women in the senior positions of General Manager: Strategic Planning, Glen Xaba, Manager: Legal Services, Simanga Ngubo and Manager: Media Liaison and Public Relations, Nonkululeko Mbatha.

Management positions held by women in the Department are made up of 45 Assistant Managers, 33 Deputy Managers, 33 Managers, 1 General Manager and 1 Senior General Manager. Even so KZN MEC for Transport, Community Safety & Liaison, Bheki Cele, is of the opinion that the Department needs to move faster with achieving the 50% target set by government. He was recently interviewed for Igalelo, the Department’s external newsletter, and had the following to say:

“The Department of Transport needs to move faster with that policy because, by September last year, we had only achieved 30% of that target. Even so, we believe it’s not only about quantity, but the quality of our employees is also very important. Unfortunately, there is this lingering perception that women are prone to incompetence. To the contrary, I have found the opposite to be true. In my personal experience, for instance, my office only has female staff members and they are highly efficient.”

“However, I wish to acknowledge a lot still needs to be done to ensure that women are represented in such fields as engineering and this is to be achieved by offering more bursaries and internships to women to pursue careers in this particular field, including science and mathematics.”

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