At the Port of Cape Town
women are doing it for
themselves.
It’s the only port operation
in South Africa to be headed
by women and it’s an
achievement of which it is
extremely proud.
Brenda Magqwaka,
recently appointed as the
terminal manager (TM) of
the Cape Town Container
Terminal (CTCT), is
responsible for overseeing
the overall operations of the
terminal, while Christina van
Dyk is the TM for the Cape
Town Agri RORO Terminal
(CTAR).
They are both resultsdriven.
“I think when women
step into positions that have
always been dominated
by men there is always a
slight hesitancy about their
capability, but ultimately
it is about showing your
colleagues, both male
and female, results,” said
Magqwaka.
She and Van Dyk have
both notched up years of
experience in the field of
port logistics and have taken
advantage of academic and
professional opportunities
available from Transnet to
get where they are today.
“I think women often
have to work twice as hard
as their male counterparts
– especially in the maledominated
port operations
environment – to prove
themselves,” she said. “I
don’t necessarily do things
the way a man would,
but ultimately it is about
my ability to manage the
terminal successfully.”
Van Dyk agrees. “I believe
in hard work and ultimately
in results. It is about getting
the job done.”
And they are two of
several women making their
mark in the port. Norraine
Allies is the first female
operator of lifting equipment
employed at the CTAR and
millwright Thandazwa Dyasi
has taken on the position of
examiner at the terminal.
But it is not just in Cape
Town where women have
excelled. In Durban TPT’s
finance departments are
headed up by Sharla Pillay
who is the company’s chief
financial officer (CFO) and
also serves on the executive
committee.
TPT in recent years has
embarked on a concerted
empowerment training
programme in an effort to
attract an increasing number
of women to the field.
Currently it employs over
6 000 people nationally, of
which approximately 23%
are women.
INSERT
‘TPT has embarked
on a concerted
empowerment training
programme to attract
women to the field.’
