18 Jan 2022

Tough times call for tough measures.

Add determination to that and you have a problem-clobbering recipe.

Now a group of very brave Nata women, have taken the bull by the horns, and dived into careers that have hitherto been seen as the preserve of men.

This is because such jobs require a great deal of brawn and stamina.

These women have every right to be called trailblazers; destroyers of stereotypes.

We start with fifty-six year old Ms Motswedi Motonto, the sole owner of SONADU (Sowa, Nata, and Dukwi) driving school.

She operates the school right at the heart of Nata village, and her name has become synonymous with it.

Born in Motsokwane ward in Serowe and currently residing in Manakanagoree ward in Nata, Ms Motonto is a jack-of-all-trades, and could easily have followed other career paths.

However, running a driving school won the day in the end.

The dream, she says was hatched in Sowa Town in 2000, although it only became a reality nine years later in the same town.

“I had this ambition to own a driving school some day.

It is ironic that I did not even have a driver’s license at the time.

The thought lived in my mind so much that I sold the idea to my then husband who had Class B. he bought it.

He went for instructor testing, and as fate would have it he passed and got his Instructor’s Certificate,” she said.

The law was somewhat relaxed at the time.

She naughtily took advantage of its laxity and would join her husband instructing leaners.

She did that until she acquired her own Class B license and ultimately Instructors License in 2009.

Over the years, sheer resolve saw Ms Motonto criss-crossing many miles to offer her services in Dukwi, Mosetse, Nata and Gweta villages including during weekends.

Prior to that enterprising woman was making shoes.

When she moved to Nata in 2005, she decided to shelve the shoemaking business and exploit the promising driver academy niche.

With learners coming from as far as Sowa Town, she could never regret that decision.

A self-taught mechanic she personally services her driving school vehicles – three in all.

As it did with many other businesses, COVID-19 dealt hers a terrible blow.

She has had to scale down on the number of learners she can take for both oral and road tests.

Moreover, people are generally still reluctant to be in an environment where they could potentially get infected.

“Money is hard to come by and learner drivers are trickling in,” she said, a look of determination on her face.

A former student at SONADU, Ms Keitiretse Mpuang, 66, who also coincidently hails from Serowe but has settled in Nata, speaks highly of Ms Motonto’s ability.

“She taught me everything I know about driving.

I came here blank and she happily took me through the paces and ensured I got my driver’s license and it has been 11 years,” she said.

She is only one of many who have been gracefully taught by the pioneering Ms Motonto.

Enter 40-year-old Cynthia Thomas.

She runs Triguar Tyre Services – a service as macho as it sounds.

This hands-on woman would smirk at the suggestion her business was masculine.

And you would understand why if you saw her at work, at her Wildebeest complex in Basimane ward in Nata.

We arrived to find her wrapping-up the physically draining task of repairing a puncture, which she did all by herself.

Clad in overalls and baseball cap, you could easily mistake her for a man as she hit metal and rubber.

So absorbed at the task at hand was she that she was not greatly fascinated by our request to interview her.

Having worked for tyre service companies before in the City of Francistown where she learnt industry tricks, this mother of three takes on the repair job of a horse-and-trailer tyre like you would a bicycle puncture.

She is a no-nonsense woman, and her son and co-worker, Rebaone Thomas will warn you to through laziness out the window if you are going to spend any amount of time with her.

One of her clients, Mr Vico Setimela, 65, waxed lyrical about the quality of her work.

“I have been repairing my tyres here for the last five years and I cannot complain. I trust her hands,” he said.

A beneficiary of Youth Development Fund Ms Thomas’ greatest wish is that government would set up incubation centres across the country, to allow young entrepreneurs to find root

while they pay nominal rental fees, until such time when they could stand on their feet. ENDS