EOH Work Readiness Initiative - Narrative Reports 2014 - 2015 Aug. 2014 | Page 19

INTERIM NARRATIVE REPORT FROM EOH

INTERVIEWS

AUGUST 2014

Children

A total of 34 people were interviewed, including three
managers and two mentors. Of these, 14 were selected
to appear in this report. Interviews have been edited
for ease of reading and are available on request as
summary transcripts or audio files.

LEARNERS
DAVID MABASA
David Mabasa was very confident but had walked a
journey to get there. Starting out in a remote village he
chose a different path from his rural entrepreneur parents
and has followed a circuitous route to finally end up in IT
Systems Support. His confidence seems to stem partly
from the orientation the work readiness programme gave
him in dealing with cocky city dwellers, and in organising
his daily tasks.
Full name

David Mabasa

South African Identity
Number

8409285759085

Learning group

System Support G1

Gender

Male

Age

29

Occupation

IT Systems Support Technician

Race

African

Born

Limpopo

Siblings

4

Parents

Both parents alive and working as
entrepreneurs

Children

2 children: 8 years old and 3 years
old

Highest grade at
secondary school

12

Post schooling
qualifications

N3 Electrical Engineering (vocational
college)
A+
N+

Currently studying

Learnership in Systems Support

Employer

EOH MS PS

Self-organisation
“I don’t find [my job] really challenging because that’s
what I love. When I wake up in the morning I draw my
working plan, like today, I know that yesterday I had a call
for a printer for instance, or I had a call for a scanner, so
I know that in the morning, what I do first is to go there
and finish up what I didn’t finish up last night, if that is
[the case], but if I don’t have [work from yesterday] then I
have to look at my day, and look at the challenges I have
for that specific day.”

“I was blessed with two kids: Precious (8 years old, girl)
and Musa (3 years old, boy).”

First visit to a city and first job
“The first job that I worked in here in Pretoria was a
garden service. I had to cut grass, fix flowers, it was
not that easy. I remember that I was getting R86023 per
month [salary]... And then my second job... was an eco
gardens company, I worked for 6 months and then for 7
months I was at home [unemployed], but I was here in
Pretoria, trying to throw [submit] the CVs. The other job
that I got… we were doing polystyrene [manufacturing]. It
was a three months contract.”

Reflection on the work readiness program