The consortium of the IDEAS Fund - a partnership product between Old Mutual and Unity (a consortium of trade unions), Group Five, Khula Finance, and Mzoli Properties - made a commitment to employ 25% local labour and surpassed this in the construction phase by 12%.
This commitment is now being extended to retail positions, announced Mzoli Ngcawuzele, of Mzoli Properties late last week. The developers want to ensure that participation by the community is maximised as the mall, scheduled to open in three months, starts recruiting.
“This will ensure that qualified local candidates, who might ordinarily be overlooked for jobs with retailers, get equal access,” explains Ngcawuzele. “We have urged all retail tenants to employ people from the local community and will advertise Jobs@Gugs on posters within the community.
“Each job post will have specific employment requirements pre-programmed such as skill and experience. If an under-qualified person applies for that position, it will reject them immediately and give them an opportunity to try for another position. The candidates that meet the basic requirements will be saved in that position folder for consideration by the retail tenants.”
Job seekers can go to the Gugulethu Square website (www.gugulethusquare.co.za) and click on Jobs@Gugs. They will be requested to log their information (personal experience, qualifications as well as skills) and select the job for which they are applying.
A temporary internet café has been set up on site at Gugulethu Square for all those wishing to apply for positions and who do not have computers or internet access. “There is someone to assist those who are computer illiterate and this service is absolutely free to the community,” concludes Ngcawuzele.
