June 28, 2010

By Miliswa Sitshwele

Maggie Khoza was working in Magaliesburg when she heard about the opening of Maropeng. She thought this would be a great opportunity for change and dropped off her CV. She didn’t know what job she would get, but she was determined to get one.

A week later she received a phone call from Maropeng, then went for an interview, and the rest, as they say, was history. Five years later, Maggie now works as the ticket office supervisor and she hasn’t looked back.

What she loves most about her job is the opportunity to impart knowledge to her juniors.

“Being a supervisor is like being a teacher,” she says. “You have to make sure that you teach your staff the right thing because everything reflects back on you.”

One of the things she enjoys about working at Maropeng is interacting with people from all walks of life on a daily basis.

This ex-TV licence inspector had wanted to be a social worker when she was growing up, but due to financial difficulties she studied a one-year secretarial course.

Her mother couldn’t pay those fees, so her mum’s employer financed her course. Khoza says she is grateful for that Good Samaritan, as she wouldn’t be at Maropeng if it weren’t for her kindness.
“She took me to Universal College in Krugersdorp, I will be forever grateful to her for her good deed,” she says.

On a normal day Khoza attends meetings, draws up schedules, takes stock and writes reports. If it’s not busy she helps out in the front office.

Being a ticket office supervisor is a humbling experience for Khoza.

“The staff here are amazing; we respect each other and we love working together. We are like a family. When you need help there is always someone available to assist and that humbles me.”

Khoza says that Maropeng has equipped her with many skills, and she’d like to see others get a chance to work at the World Heritage Site, as “it’s a special place”.

“I have learnt a lot during the five years that I have worked here. Maropeng helps us out a lot, they take us on training courses and every month this year we will go on a supervisor development programme.”

Khoza says she’d still like to be at Maropeng in three years’ time; but doing something different, like working in the accounts department.