By Neo Semono
Mention the word nuclear and most of us think of the Fukushima or Chernobyl disasters. But, a young South African woman has made a career out of one of the most feared and misunderstood sectors.
Having met the petite, dreadlocked Ditebogo Kgomo at a function recently, I got to understand the 35-year-old’s passion for the nuclear sector.
We meet for our interview at her office at the National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) in Pretoria, where she works as the senior manager for compliance, assurance and enforcement division at the regulator.
She heads a team of inspectors and administrators. The job entails going out to do physical inspections and involves a lot of travel.
But why did Khomo want to be involved in a complicated and what is often seen as an intimidating sector? I wondered.
“It can be an intimidating, field. It is male dominated but you find that generally people are giving. Most of them you find that they do want to share the knowledge that they have. It depends on you as a young person to actually want to receive that knowledge,” she explains.
Kgomo has firmly established herself in the South African nuclear industry having worked her way up in the sector.
Her path up the career ladder was not an easy one though. She failed Maths at the end of her Matric year, as the Maths teacher who also happened to be the school principal, seldom had the time to teach students.
This did not bode well for someone keen on studying medicine.
She recalls taking her Matric results to the Medical University of SA (Medunsa) to register.
“I couldn’t get into Medunsa and then I decided to go to the University of the North. They said I failed Maths. I refused to take that,” she says.
Following much debate about what course she should enrol for, defeated university staff referred her to the bridging course programme at the university to improve her maths grades.
With hard work, she passed Maths and in 1997 registered for a Bachelor of Science (BSC) degree at the University of the North.
In her first year, Kgomo applied and secured a bursary from the then Atomic Energy Corporation (AEC).
Among the requirements for the bursary was that she left her home province of Limpopo and enrolled at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, Gauteng.
Kgomo went on to pursue her second year of study at the university.
The bursary paid for schooling right up to her Honours degree after which she was due to take up a job at the AEC as per the agreement of the bursary.
Over the years, the then AEC became the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa).
After completing her degree, things did not look good for her. She was told that there were no open vacancies.
Kgomo then resolved that she would continue with her studies which the company would pay for.
“They didn’t have much of choice, either they gave me a job or paid for my studies,” she chuckles.
Over university holidays, Kgomo worked at the corporation and when she graduated with her Masters of Science degree she went on to work for as a scientist up until January 2005.
In February 2005, she joined the then Department of Minerals and Energy where she worked her way up the ranks.
“I looked at working for the state as my community service,” she says as she recalls her initial plan spending a minimum two years at the department after which she joined the private sector.
The two years she had planned to spend in the public service became a nine-year stint.
“It was the most fulfilling part of my career so far,” she says of her responsibility for different aspects of nuclear energy at the Department of Energy (DoE).
“For me it was the sense of being involved. You know you feel like you’re part of the bigger picture because the whole point of government is to do something for the people. The delivery of services is what drove me. That is what kept me there for nine years,” she recalls.
While working for the department, Kgomo had several mentors who helped her grow through the ranks.
However, over the years, she began to feel restless and this led her to taking stock of her career. This resulted in her taking time off work to go pursue her studies. She took a year off work —of which six months was unpaid leave.
In September 2012, Kgomo became a full time Master of Law in Energy Law and Policy student at the University of Dundee, Scotland, having been funded by DoE.
“I studied hard,” she says of her time spent in Scotland before returning to her job in September 2013.
She also recalls missing her eight-year-old daughter and family.
“I used to call home a lot.”
On transformation and the role of black women in the sector, Kgomo says: “We have a long way to go because my sense is that most black women get stuck in the lower levels. There could be two ways of looking at this; [either] organisations don’t present the relevant opportunities or that people are just comfortable in their spaces. Some women may feel that they have the appropriate balance of home and work life and therefore some people might not even aspire to reach those high levels,” she says.
“I don’t think that organisations are doing enough to support and prepare women for those leadership roles,” she explains.
Kgomo counts the finalisation of the Radioactive waste Management Policy and Strategy as a highlight in her career. Approved in 2005, the Radioactive Waste Management Policy and Strategy establishes a national radioactive waste policy framework, setting out the principles for management. It further provides for the necessary management structures for radioactive waste management.
“When I got to the department they had started doing this thing and I had to be intimately involved in ensuring that we are going to get the policy finalised and take it through Parliament and eventually get it approved as the policy of this country,” she recalls.
Following the approval of the policy, the National Committee on Radioactive Waste Management was established in 2006. This is a committee of government that oversee the implementation of the policy.
Kgomo’s day at the office begins at 6:45am and can carry on long after 4:30pm due to back –to-back meetings and interactions with entities that the NNR regulates.
While her current job keeps this mother of one busy, she aspires to one day head the Austria-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The agency is the world’s centre of cooperation in the nuclear field. It works with its member states and multiple partners worldwide to promote safe, secure and peaceful nuclear technologies.
“I’m not sure if I will reach there. But, all my efforts are geared towards that. It is a dream, even if it doesn’t come true. It helps to guide decisions related to my career,” she says. - SAnews.gov.za
