Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) recently employed 138 people living with disabilities. This recruitment process is part of an on-going process and an additional 197 such employees will be appointed in the near future bringing the number of people living with disabilities, recruited within a short space of time, to 335.

This is in line with the country’s national Employment Equity Act, which stipulates that companies should give priority to disadvantaged groups, which includes PWDs. TFR embarked on an aggressive recruitment drive that will contribute to creating opportunities for many PWDs as part of a major Human Capital Transformation.
Commenting on this milestone, TFR chief executive, Siyabonga Gama, said TFR has, over the years, supported various government initiatives aimed at integrating people with disabilities into the working environment. “We are pleased with the pace of recruiting people with disabilities. Before this milestone the organisation was sitting at 194 people and needed 104 people to reach the 1.1% target.”

The organisation was targeting people with a minimum qualification of matric who have the potential to be developed further. The recruited people will be placed across the organisation, mostly within the operations environment to attain various skills, taking into account their disability status.

Even so, TFR will continue to recruit people with disabilities, tapping into the talent that would have otherwise been side-lined had it not been for South Africa’s transformation policies, and indeed those of TFR.
In terms of overall job creation, by the end of this financial year, TFR will have hired and additional 4 489 employees in newly created jobs, which will bring the total number of employees to about 26 464.