The number of strikes that result in the blocking of national roads has been on the rise over the past couple of weeks, resulting in delays, worsened by the long time it takes to clear the roads for traffic again.
Those of us who have our own means of transport have become accustomed to finding alternative routes. But this option is not available to the majority of people, who primarily depend on public transport.
There is a debate in the corridors of organisations in South Africa about what the appropriate response should be when the tea lady or the office cleaners are late for work due to transport delays.
Some argue we should be empathetic, given that these individuals often leave home two to three hours ahead of their start time to make it there on time. They depend on unreliable means of transport.
Others argue that everyone should find their own way of getting to work on time, whatever it takes. Being reliable means consistently showing up, irrespective of circumstances.
Having grown up in poverty myself, I empathise with the former view that says we should be cutting these individuals some slack. After all, is being served that early- morning coffee by the tea lady really that important, if you account for the fact that it takes her waking up at 3am to get to work on time?
Simple things such as transport have become significant barriers to making sustainable employment opportunities available to those who need them most. The fact that people in this position must travel far to get to the cities, despite their low pay, should be a wake-up call for us to identity the simple things we can change to create sustainable job opportunities for those who need them the most.
Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator released its quarterly employment report this week.
Harambee is an independent not-for-profit social enterprise that specialises in eradicating the structural barriers marginalised young people face in South Africa when seeking first-time employment.
Its report highlights how addressing something as simple as transport costs for job interviews and new hires would go a long way towards solving the job-creation challenge.
I am fascinated by its concept, mainly because while decades of debate and discussion about how to address the job-creation issue in South Africa have passed, Harambee has succeeded in helping marginalised young people to become employment ready, resulting in 40000 job placements with its 400 partner employers. It has been operating for six years.
To address structural barriers to employment, it suggests simple things like prospective employers condensing their hiring activities into a single day to avoid multiple interviewee trips. Another suggestion is conducting pre- and post-interview interactions telephonically or electronically. It estimates that transport costs represent R350 of the R550 that it costs to be on a job search each month.
Indeed, there is a school of thought that says people should pave their own way to success. I myself am a big believer in taking responsibility for your own life. But given the situation we are in today, surely as an organisation you do not want to risk not hiring what could be the best future CEO candidate merely because they did not have money to get to the entry-level interview?
Building on Harambee's suggestions, I see no reason why employers should not consider reimbursing underprivileged candidates for transport costs to begin with.
Coming from the townships, I was privileged to get one of the top scholarships in the country to fund my business degree at the University of Cape Town. However, that was possible only because the founders employed Career Wise to go and identify underprivileged talent from schools in the townships, screen them and then transport them - flights and all - at the founders' cost, so that they could make it to Cape Town for the final-round interviews. Without that initial investment, such opportunities would remain accessible only to the few who have the financial means to get onto a flight to Cape Town.
The solution lies in simple and targeted interventions that can change people's lives. Focusing on the eradication of transport costs as a barrier is a good place to start.
• Sikhakhane is a global speaker and business strategist specialising in leadership, entrepreneurship and change management, with an MBA from Stanford University
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