WeeklySA_AdminDEPENDABLE:Appliances repairer loves to train others
By Bongiwe Mkhwanazi
For more thirty five years, self-taught technician John Mbatha has commuted between Ekurhuleni and Soweto together with his two sons in a commendable travail of self-reliance and youth development.
Mbatha, 63, and his sons – John Junior (38) and Ernest (40) – fix refrigerators and other domestic appliances at a small businesses complex situated just behind the Orlando Soccer Stadium in Orlando East, Soweto. Mbatha honed the craft from on-the-job training while he was employed by Anglo American. But his sons have obtained diplomas in plumbing and electrical work from technical vocational education and training (TVET) colleges.
So far, Mbatha’s registered company, SWT Refrigeration, has trained more than 21 younger employees over the years. Among Mbatha’s protégés, there had been a youngster who could not read and write. “But, by the time he relocated to KwaZulu-Natal, he was able to repair different domestic appliances,” Mbatha said, proudly. Mbatha is also currently mentoring a youngster who is allegedly abusing drugs. “Our deal is that he must be clean and sober, and in return, I give him food for the whole week,” Mbatha said. “I want him to get his head in the right space before I can start training him.”
Mbatha told Weekly SA Mirror this week that he believed in training other people so that he does not die without imparting valuable information. “There is no point in dying with Knowledge which could help people to survive,” Mbatha said. Mbatha and his sons are currently mentoring eight young novices.
He had decided use the proceeds of his pension fund to open his own workshop after he had stopped working fulltime 35 years ago. Today, the workshop is a small business venture known as SWT Refrigeration. Mbatha’s clientele include several government hospitals, SA Breweries, Russell’s Furnishers and Defy, mostly for repairs to fridges that are under warranty. “Several community health centres call us whenever they need repairs to be made to their walk-in refrigerators, and several top companies, including South African Breweries, are also using our services,” Mbatha said.
Mbatha is encouraging those who want to further their knowledge in appliance repairs to ensure that they find programmes that could help them to succeed. “It is for this reason that I took my sons to technical and vocational education and training (TVET) colleges so that they could be experts in the profession,” Mbatha said.
Like several other industrious entrepreneurs that Weekly SA Mirror has profiled, recently, Mbatha did not know that his employees could obtain artisanship qualifications, based on their proven on-the-job training proving the acquisition of prior learning.
Mbatha had also not known that he could also register his company as an on-the-job education and training provider with a sector education and training authority.
To this end, Weekly SA Mirror is assisting SWT Refrigeration by linking SWT Refrigeration with the Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Sector Education and Training Authority, Merseta, to ensure that his venture receives the necessary support.
WHAT IT TAKES FOR A SMALL BUSINESS TO RECEIVE SETA RECOGNITION
EXPERIENCE: Recognition of prior learning for fridge repairers
This week, Weekly SA Mirror arranged for a manufacturing, engineering and related services sector education and training authority, Merseta client liaison Officer (CLO) to arrange a workplace approval for John Mbatha’s small business venture, SWT Refrigeration.
Mbatha will be expected to complete the requisite forms, complete with his company logo and all the relevant names and other crucial details. This process would allow Mbatha to effectively appoint whoever is going to be his skills development facilitator (SDF) from Merseta. The SDF would then load the documents onto the Merseta system. The process is said to take about five days, to allow the Merseta to review the documents. Once the SDF has been approved, Mbatha’s company would be formally recognised by the SETA.
Because some of the employees have acquired experiential experience over four years, Mbatha can opt for a programme of artisan recognition of prior learning (ARPL), where the employee can be taken to a trade test centre for assessment to identify any possible gaps in the knowledge that they may have acquired. If there are no gaps, these employees are then “trade-tested” and are later recognised as “red-sealed” artisans. Weekly SA Mirror has learnt that such an approval process could take about three weeks.
The Merseta-accredited trade test centre is called Indlela, isiZulu for the way, and it is situated at 64 Olifantsfontein Road in Glen Austin, Midrand. The centre’s email address is: admin@olifantsfonteintradetest.com, while their telephone number is: 081 400 7203, or 065 816 3916. Yet another Merseta-accredited training center, the Air conditioning and Refrigeration Academy (Acra), is located at 203 Element Road in Choolorkop, Kempton Park, and their telephone number is: 011 6089 1118, or 011 393 1642.
