Road team treated to lunch

Mayor Patricia de Lille, centre in red jacket, Mayco member for transport, Brett Herron and Transport for Cape Town commissioner, Melissa Whitehead, behind Ms De Lille, with the road repair teams.

The City of Cape Town hosted four all-female road repair teams to lunch in Cape Town on Wednesday July 6, to honour the work they have achieved since 2015.

Transport for Cape Town (TCT), the City’s transport authority, spearheaded the gender transformation project and they are based at TCT depots in Kuils River, Ndabeni, Fish Hoek and as part of the Expanded Public Works Programme.

In May, the project received the award for Most Innovative Women Training Programme at the fourth annual Women in Construction Awards. In hosting the 24 women, mayor Patricia de Lille said: The 24 women have made this City proud. We are committed to empowering residents so that they can develop skills, access opportunities and design their own futures.

“We established these teams because we wanted to change perceptions. Not too long ago it would have been unthinkable for women to wield heavy tools and repair our roads.

Adding the women had shown they could compete with their male counterparts in physically demanding jobs, she said: “Women all over our city – women like you – are the heroes in their families and an example that young girls can look up to.

“In the coming years, we aim to expand the number of women teams so that the work environment reflects our gender transformation agenda.”