21 Dec 2016

Tlotlang Bagolo, a discipline oriented club at Jwaneng Mine, has celebrated 10 years of existence and moulding mine workers to be employees of repute, horning their skills for future leadership.

The club recently spelt out their mandate to long serving members and potential members as a recruitment drive and celebration of the achievements.

In a more traditional setup of a kgotla, one of the members Mr Keolatotse Keolatotse said for the past 10 years, they pride themselves with instilling a sense of discipline through culture among the workers to respect their seniors.

“We have developed the spirit of team work which we also call pulling together inside the mine. This has helped us to work together without fearing the senior management and sitting together with them to strategies on pressing issues,” said Mr Keolatotse.

He also stated that they introduced counselling to their members and planning to bring valuable services which will sustain the club.

He said they have visited Sua Pan, Orapa/ Letlhakane mine and Morupule coal mine to introduce the club in those areas.

Looking forward, Mr Keolatotse said they intend to identify and build a house for a less privileged person.

The chairperson Mr Molatodi Lesebola revealed in an interview that the club was formed in 2006 formally registered in 2014. It was started by shift C within the mine and later spread through other shifts.

He said the target was to empower the youth at the mine about the importance of respecting their seniors especially in instances where their supervisors were far younger than them.

He said though the club started with employees of the mine, they ensured that their retired employees remained part of the club to help instill discipline to the new members.

He said they do not only talk work but they encouraged their members to think outside the pit and do other cultural activities like farming to build foundation for a better retirement.

“We have also assisted the management in dealing with issues of absenteeism and late coming.

Normally when its month end there is a lot of abstentism and we have taken upon ourselves to facilitate the youth on the importance of respecting their jobs which can easily be lost if not taken care of,” explained Mr Lesebola.

Mr Lesebola said their club had grown and they had a strong committee and opened a bank account.

Though they did have a source of income that sustains the club, they are willing to go an extra mile to make sure that the club continue to exist in the next 10 years. ENDS