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“I am 100% happy to go back to work, but I am also 50% afraid of dying from the coronavirus and 50% afraid that I will go bankrupt if I don’t work.”
These were the words of Cross Chikanzi, a construction supervisor on a road rehabilitation project that resumed in Cape Town after the Level 5 blockade was lifted.
Dwarfed by the huge construction machinery tires that began to wobble along with the gravel spread alongside the N7 at Dunoon again, Chikanzi said: “I am very excited to be back on site.”
Project manager Willem Olivier feels the same way, saying that the coronavirus permit had been a nightmare.
They had to see how money wasted on unused equipment, empty site offices, and wages for not having done any work. They were delighted to return to work, rehabilitating part of the main route from Cape to Namibia.
He said the switched off coronavirus simply hit them “out of the blue”.
“It was a moment of despair,” said Olivier, walking the site with renewed vigor.
“This came just in time,” he said, of the fall to Tier 4 restrictions that allows for some work, with a small number of staff and increased security precautions.
He said they only arrived in late April in terms of paying all of their bills and their staff salaries.
Under level four regulations, construction and related services are permitted, including public works, roads, and bridge projects.
But work is not the same as before.
A table near where staff park their vehicles contains a temperature scanner, and anyone who enters the site has the scanner pointed at their forehead, and their temperature is noted.
“Ah, you have your own pen,” said one of the site employees, who was about to take out a new, unused pen from a box for the visitor to log in.
Olivier said the most difficult part of returning was implementing all the coronavirus detection protocols, making sure personal protective equipment and masks for everyone, and that everyone knew what was expected in terms of limiting the spread of the virus.
The unions had been very helpful in preparing them to return to work.
They also discovered an amazing shift system, so that there weren’t too many people on site at the same time, and so workers didn’t have to be exposed to crowded transportation.
For construction supervisor Clive Langtrey, getting back to work this week is bittersweet.
Although he has the well-toned body of a construction worker, he is over 60 years old, and is therefore considered to have a higher risk of contracting the coronavirus than his younger counterparts.
He also has to think about his wife and son at their home in Thornton, way down the road to Goodwood.
The Western Cape Transport MEC, Bonginkosi Madikizela, appeared to see how work was progressing and whether contractors and staff were complying with the coronavirus work rules.
“Everyone was ready to work,” said Madikizela.
He acknowledged that there was a debate about whether people should really return to work, given the increasing number of Covid-19 cases.
“I think it is a forced dichotomy because the economy is needed to finance health[care].
“I am very happy with what I saw today,” Madikizela said, adding that there was enough space on site for everyone to be able to work at a distance from each other.
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