Hope for exiles in shrinking SA job market

Zimbabwean exiles are suffering to make it into South Africa’s fast-shrinking job market.

Patrick Sibanda
Patrick Sibanda

Even most of those who were issued with freely-processed permits under the Zimbabwe Documentation Project are still on the streets, mostly due to lack of useful connections.

Yet lying hidden from the tens of thousands that trudge the streets of Johannesburg looking for work, is ARK Marketing and Staffing Solutions, owned by Zimbabweans and dedicated to easing the problem of job-hunting.

Owned by Patrick Sibanda and his wife Chriselda Mthembu, the employment agency provides a link between job seekers and prospective employers.

“There is a lot going on in the world of job-hunting and this company was formed after the realisation that some people took advantage of Zimbabwean job seekers to con them of their money without delivering on the jobs,” said Sibanda.

“Ours is a registered company that does not cut corners to strike it rich. We have strong links with reliable employers and ensure that all the workers that get employed through us are well-taken care of by negotiating their contracts, in line with their references and experience. We also make sure that everyone who comes to us to register as an employment seeker has traceable references and is someone reliable, to avoid future problems.”

The company’s involvement does not end with the employment of a worker but also handles future disputes and breaches of contracts between their clients and their employers.

“We cater for all types of professions, including housemaids, gardeners and builders, because we have links with employers from different fields and places,” added the Plumtree-born Sibanda. “We are based in central Johannesburg, but are in contact with employers from as far as Benoni, Limpopo and Cape Town, who were referred by their colleagues who have previously been provided with satisfactory service from us and very soon, we will be opening branches all over South Africa.

“We are mostly interested in securing jobs for refugees because as Zimbabweans ourselves, we do not like it when our fellow countrymen, some of them highly-skilled, end up distributing flyers on the streets for R30 a day, living like vagrants or doing menial jobs just because they have no one to vouch for them to the millions of employers seeking their kind of character in the country. On the other hand, we have many good employers who trust Zimbabweans and would have them only as their employees. This is the gap we are out to fill.

“We need serious people, not chancers who just want to do something for a certain time and then make off with their employers’ goods because that will destroy our company’s reputation,” explained Sibanda.

“As a result, we do a thorough background check to ensure that all job seekers who come to our company do not have any criminal record and are not on the police’s wanted list. We also check the record of the employers who come to us because we would not like to throw the vulnerable migrants and refugees into the hands of abusive people. That is why we also provide mediation in terms of disputes.”

Linking employers with job seekers is however, not the only dish being served at multi-tasking ARK Marketing. They also market the products of upcoming businesses, especially those being run by Zimbabweans, which fail to break into the competitive local market.

“So far, we have had no major disappointments with the employers and employees that have linked through us and we hope to keep it that way. This is our way of contributing to the well-being of our countrymen in this foreign land. We have realised that sitting down to mourn each time we hear or read stories about our countrymen having been conned or exploited will not solve our problems. We are not trying to make Zimbabweans and other migrants any special, but only make sure that they are treated with the dignity they deserve,” added Mthembu.

Post published in: News
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