By Karabo Ntanzi
Kediemetsi Bogaleboile is Chairperson of South African Women in Construction (SAWIC) for Northern Cape and is a nominee for the 2021 Heroin’s Awards. She was born in Palweni Street, Kimberley, the only sister to her three brothers. Her family relocated to Pampierstad in 1967. She started schooling at Boitshoko Primary School and completed her then Form 2, now Grade 9, at Kgomotso High School.
Kediemetsi’s dream of becoming a nurse was not fulfilled due to a lack of financial support. She then worked for the then only large-scale employer, Langeberg Boerdery in Hartswater, as an onions sorter. She later ventured into retail, beginning at a Dry Clean company. She worked as a Credit Controller for furniture shops; Frasers in Jan Kempdorp, Lewis and Bears, Hartswater.
In 2000 she resigned and did admin for her late husband’s welding business at home.
Bogaleboile partnered with women who wanted change in 2001 by joining the South African Women in Construction in a male-dominated industry.
She honed her construction skills by attending Brick Laying, Plastering, Plumbing, Project-Management, and Construction Management courses.
Of her six children, her eldest two are deceased. Her firstborn daughter passed on at the age of 41 from cancer while her second-born son died in a car accident in 2018 aged 40. “At least God allowed me to see my children grow,” she said gratefully.
Kediemetse encourages leaders to separate personal issues and business and to expand their networks. She is frustrated by the lack of interest in women’s empowerment in the province. “Most Sawic members in the Northern Cape are in Grade 1 or 2, which is entry-level. The industry is not lucrative as it looks. Challenges such as the high cost of affiliating fees and stringent regulations make it difficult to sustain membership, especially during the pandemic,” said a concerned Kediemetsi.
According to Bogaleboile, critical factors such as lack of decent capital and the season in which construction occurs will determine the success or failure of a project.
Her advice to young entrepreneurs is for them, “to concentrate on viable businesses.”
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