Let’s hear it for the ladies!

This month, we’re celebrating the achievements of leading ladies within South Africa’s transport and logistics industry.

When I first joined this industry, it was populated by men; women were hardly ever seen. I raised many a stare – purely because I was a woman working in a males-only industry. Rude and sometimes stupid comments were made. For instance, once I was flying to Sun City for a truck launch as a guest of one of the German truck makers. The plane was a charter flight and one of the men asked me if I would be serving the drinks. I asked him why he would assume that the only female guest on the flight would be serving the drinks. “Because I’m sure you’ve always wanted to be a flight attendant,” was his rather idiotic response.

Fast forward to 2024 and we have a female Minister of Transport – again. Our fabulous columnist, Nick Porée, has thoughts on what Barbara Creecy should prioritise in her new role. You can read all about this on page 8 of this issue.

A woman is also at the helm of the South African Bus Operators Association (Saboa), and she pens a monthly column for FOCUS. On page 4 of this issue, Sharmini Naidoo writes that the bus and coach sector is facing massive uncertainty when it comes to B-BBEE.

Then, on page 26, we profile the first-ever female group CEO and president of Daimler Truck Southern Africa. I conducted the interview with Maretha Gerber, who is already doing a cracking job at the company.

On page 30, we feature Nomathemba Selesho, owner of Themba Liyeza Logistics. She’s employing 18 people in Ekangala, an area where youth unemployment is particularly high at over 50%, and we salute her for that. I’m pleased to point out that the writer of this feature – Terrena Rathanlall – is also a woman.

Our feature on page 33 highlights Ndima Mankomo, South Africa’s first female Road Transport Management System (RTMS) auditor (she works at JC Auditors), while on page 34, we pay tribute to Jenny Heyes, marketing director of Castrol Africa, who can teach any man a thing or two about internal combustion engines.

On page 36, we write about Gabisile Fakude, dealer principal at UD Trucks Bidvest McCarthy Commercial Alrode. Fakude is yet another woman carving a niche for herself in what used to be a men-only profession. She is a shining example of women grabbing their opportunities to actively change gender stereotypes in the commercial vehicle industry. Furthermore, Fakude is using her position to promote inclusivity.

It’s apt that we’re featuring all these incredible women in this issue of FOCUS; as we all know, the Government of South Africa declared August Women’s Month and 9 August is celebrated annually as Women’s Day. However, we’re not only celebrating their achievements because they’re women – they’re all enormously successful within their chosen careers and they deserve to be lauded, irrespective of their gender.

While this represents quite the line-up of leading ladies, does this mean that our industry is plain sailing for women? Sadly not. On page 32 of this issue, we quote yet another of this industry’s leading ladies – SAPICS president MJ Schoemaker. She reveals the findings of a SAPICS survey, which discovered that 64% of the female respondents had experienced or witnessed gender discrimination in the workplace. So, there’s certainly still work to be done, but at least today when a man sees a woman working in our sector, he doesn’t necessarily assume that she can only be there to serve the refreshments.