FEATURES
Climbing the
construction ladder
Petra Mitchell entered the sector in 2009
working for the Saint Gobain Construction
Products Academy. Her role offers advice
and direction in the design and
development of training material and
content for the learnership, in consultation
with relevant subject matter experts.
“I’ve built my career in a variety of roles
and industries where I was not just the
administrator but also a mentor, skills
development facilitator and curriculum
developer. I’m not only used to wearing
many hats – I sincerely enjoy it; I thrive in
an environment where no two work days
are exactly the same,” she explains.
With broad industry experience in
government, Sector Education and Training
Authorities (SETAs) and curriculum
development for industries, Mitchell gained
extensive knowledge of the Skills
Development Act and relevant processes
within the industry. In addition, she was
part of the South African delegation that
accompanied the deputy minister and
director general of Higher Education and
Training to the WorldSkills Americas 2012
accommodating. More families will be fed,
kids will go to school, the unemployment
rate will decrease and poverty will be a
thing of the past,” says Lebo Mangcwatywa,
owner and managing director of Malatsi
Sheetmetal and Insulation.
Malatsi Sheetmetal and Insulation is a
100% black female-owned business that
provides industrial and residential
maintenance services to the construction
industry. “My father started the business in
the late 1990s and I used to help him during
school holidays until he employed me as a
business manager in 2005. In 2012, I
became a co-owner of his business. Sadly, he
passed away in 2015, and that’s when I took
over as sole owner,” notes Mangcwatywa.
Mangcwatywa says her entry into the
sector was challenging. “At first it wasn’t so
great – it was hard and tiring. I had to prove
myself to a whole lot of my male
counterparts that I knew what I was doing.
Secondly, I had to prove to other women
who have been in the industry for a long
period of time. The biggest lesson I learnt is
that this industry is fast paced, and you
need to be on your toes all the time.”
Female construction professionals are on par with their male counterparts.
competition in Brazil and the WorldSkills
International 2013 competition in Germany.
“In 2012 I was part of the working group
that started with the development of the
Building Insulation Installer qualification
led by Master Builders KwaZulu-Natal. In
May 2016, the Thermal Insulation Products
and Systems Association SA (TIPSASA)
requested the expansion of the Building
Insulation Installer qualification to include
the Industrial Insulation Installer with the
Manufacturing, Engineering and Related
Services SETA (MerSETA) as the
Development Quality Partner (DQP),”
explains Mitchell.
She also played a vital role as the
Learner Qualifications Development
Facilitator (LQDF) in the development of the
i