Meet the rough diamond turned foreman at Medupi

When Lincoln Mohlaka had to give up his studies in
Metallurgy at the University of the Witwatersrand in 2007, he thought his future was doomed and for months he was shattered.  Fast forward to 2013 and Mohlaka (26) is now a certified artisan boilermaker by trade currently working at the Medupi Power Station in Lephalale, the fourth largest coal-fire power station in the world which is still under construction.
Mohlaka was part of the first group of apprentices and the youngest at the time to be trained at the Tlhahlong Training Centre, an artisan training centre sponsored by Murray & Roberts, Medupi’s lead contractor and South Africa’s second-largest construction company. Their intention is to donate this facility to the Lephalale FET once the construction of the Medupi Power Station is complete.
According to the training centre’s manager, Pieter de Villiers, Tlhahlong is one of the few training facilities in the country that has been granted the license to certify and accredit artisans. A total R24 million was spent to build the facility and purchase all the necessary equipment. The centre has produced 380 qualified artisans and another 300 are in training.
Mohlaka is one of Thlahlong’s major success stories and has witnessed first hand the construction of the Medupi Power Station almost from the very beginning.
“When I got there, I was a rough diamond. Most of us in our group had never worked before. When we started, they were just starting to build the lift shafts for boiler six and others were doing the cementation on the ground. Today when I walk through the site, I can literally point out the things I have had a hand in building and it’s an amazing feeling to be part of such big milestones,” says Mohlaka.
Mohlaka has worked his way up to Foreman status quickly. After training at Thlahlong, he went to the Medupi Power Station for on-site training in the piping department, a crucial part of boilermaking.  Even at that early stage as an apprentice, his foreman saw great potential and believed in him so much that he let him lead his own team. From there he was sent to the pipe workshop (where the pipes are fabricated) where he mastered the craft. After 18 months on site, he went back to the training centre, completed his trade tests, qualified as an artisan and was promoted to Foreman after a year of working.
“Critics often said I was young and didn’t have experience but I learned fast that out there, when working with people who have been doing this since before you were born, you shouldn’t try to act like a boss. To make the best out of the situation and produce the work of the required standard, you have to work with them, listen to them and most importantly, learn from them,” reflects Mohlaka.
The Tlhahlong Training Centre is the flagship of the Medupi Legacy Programme which was established in August 2009 to ensure that while Eskom is building the power station to keep the lights burning, it leaves a sustainable legacy in the Lephalale Municipality and the Waterberg District, which will contribute to growth of the Limpopo Provincial Gross Domestic Product. Skills development, job creation, enterprise development, education and human resource development are the main focus areas of the programme.