Augmented Field Services programme improves service delivery
Bongiwe Jeku (29), who lives in Ward 57 South Hills, holds a diploma in human resources management and is a beneficiary of AFS.
The recently introduced Augmented Field Service (AFS) programme is making strides in enhancing service delivery in the inner-city.
AFS is not only a service delivery programme designed to augment work by City of Johannesburg entities and departments, it is also an opportunity to create jobs for unemployed residents.
The programme is aimed at ensuring the teams act as ambassadors on the ground and augment visible service delivery in their assigned wards.
Duties include grass-cutting, street-sweeping, litter-picking on streets, pavement areas, informal areas, vacant areas, park areas, removal of weeds, stormwater distilling, removing off stickers or pamphlets from the street furniture/poles, to mention a few.
The programme is administered by Citizen Relationship and Urban Management.
Region F consists of 19 wards and is bound by the Killarney Ridge and upper Houghton in the north and Naturena in the south. The region thus has a staff complement of 190 general workers, which translates to 10 workers per ward.
Each ward has a team leader to oversee and administer the activities of the ward.
In the past three months, the teams have cleaned and maintained the Constitution Hill precinct, Wits precinct, main intersections of the region, like Louis Botha Avenue, Jan Smuts Avenue, Booysens and Empire road, Pieter Roos Park and Rotunda Park in Turffontein to name a few places.
One of the beneficiaries of the programme, Thamsanqa Ngubeni (42), a father of six living in Ward 62, Hillbrow, said with only Grade 11 as his highest qualification, it was difficult to find a permanent job.
“This opportunity came at the right time, as I was not working for 18 months and had a newborn baby. As a father, I was lost and did not know how I will provide for my wife and children. God has answered my prayers and I am grateful for this programme, as it has brought so much joy in my family,” he said.
Another worker, Bongiwe Jeku (29), residing in Ward 57 South Hills, holds a diploma in human resources management. She said the opportunity came after she had been unemployed for three years.
