People of Vox: Spotlight on Ronnie Mnisi
At Vox, we believe our employees are the beating heart of our company, with merit and value built into all our available positions. In this edition of People of Vox, we meet Ronnie Mnisi, Vox’s Johannesburg-based Driver, who works in the Facilities Department. The story of his early investment in himself and his driving skills, showing how he took hold of an opportunity with both hands, highlights Ronnie’s continued quiet determination to keep moving forward.
Ronnie has been at Vox since November 2006, having started working for Orion, which then became part of Vox. In his role as a supervisory driver of the team, he’s responsible for assisting with Exco requests, marketing department requirements, tenders and ‘everything else, where there is a gap!’
His line manager, Group Facilities and OHS Manager Trudy Truscott, has worked with him for around 15 years and notes that Ronnie is: “Old school, but good school – there is nothing that he will not willingly do for the company. Most employees are the bricks in the wall, but Ronnie, who has been here for 20 years, is part of the company’s foundations!”
He’s also described by multiple sources as being an extremely good driver: efficient, safe and highly experienced in his driving skills. We find out more about this loyal, dependable and much-loved member of the Vox team.
A Natural-Born Driver: Getting Started
“My happy place is behind the wheel.”
Ronnie says that as a young man, he used to wash his older brother’s car, and in the process of doing this regularly, he learned how to reverse it and park it in the yard. In essence, he could handle a car, because the mechanics of it came to him easily and intuitively, but only off the road. Not being a licensed driver meant that he wasn’t able to drive properly – or legally! – on the open road.
There came a time when Ronnie was working as a technician for a previous employer before joining Vox. To be more efficient, his manager wanted him to be able to go out alone to install and repair machines on site at the customers’ premises, instead of being dependent on a colleague who was a licensed driver.
Ronnie explains: “My manager made me an offer. He asked me to pay for my learner’s licence and driving test myself, and said that if I passed my driving test, the company would then pay me back in full. And so I decided to take him up on his offer.”
He booked himself a week of lessons running daily from Monday to Friday. Early in the week, the instructor told him that there wasn’t much he had to teach him, because Ronnie so clearly understood how to drive! The main thing he needed to learn was the requirements of the government’s licensing officials. Because it was going so well, Ronnie – not one to waste time, either in life or behind the wheel – asked to be booked for a test that Friday and passed first time – no small achievement!
His line manager honoured the agreement and refunded him for the money that he’d spent, and a new chapter of Ronnie’s working life opened up immediately. He might not have realised it at the time, but Ronnie’s independent streak had also opened up new job prospects for himself in the future.
Moving Forward: Arriving at Vox
“Look at life through the windshield, not the rear-view mirror.” – Byrd Baggett, motivational speaker
Having successfully passed his driving test, Ronnie continued working for the company in a more empowered and efficient manner as a technician who was now also a qualified legal driver. Unfortunately, the business fell on hard times and retrenchment loomed one day, quite suddenly. Ronnie was invited to send in his CV to Orion.
“I did this,” he says, “and then waited for about a month, not knowing whether I would have a job or not when the company closed. This was one of the main challenges of my career path. Fortunately, there was a job opening for me, and I joined Vox in the Stores department.
“It wasn’t too long before I realised that the company’s driver was going to be leaving in the near future, and so I decided to approach his manager to ask whether I could take over the driving role. The manager agreed, partly because colleagues told him that I had already been a driver / technician at my previous company. And so that’s how I began driving for Vox!”
Ronnie thoroughly enjoys driving, so much so that when he was later offered a job as a technician, he declined so he could stay working as a dedicated full-time driver.
The Vox Driving Team: A Smooth-Running Machine
“Everything in life is somewhere else, and you get there in a car.” – E.B. White, American writer and children’s author
As part of the Vox Facilities division, Ronnie works for a team which ensures that the people within the organisation are able to work safely, efficiently, comfortably and sustainably, both within head office and the company’s other buildings around the country. They are the hidden heroes who work quietly, often in the background, to keep the cogs of the business turning.
Against this background, Ronnie speaks warmly about working with his line manager, Trudy, explaining: “We work very well together and I find her to be firm but fair, and supportive at all times. She always looks out for her team members and does what she can to help us.”
It’s fair to say that Ronnie’s job, supported by Trudy and his colleagues, generally operates like a well-run logistics chain: no mean feat when we think about all the factors that are always involved when planning for items to be dropped off and delivered around the province, and even the country.
A ‘Joburg Drivers’ group email has been set up for Ronnie and his colleagues Amos and Jacob, and all requests must be sent there, with 24 hours’ notice and full pick-up and drop-off details. The drivers are trained to be cost-conscious and route jobs efficiently, and essentially the team members manage themselves.
On Deadline: Ronnie at Work
“Life is beautiful if you are on the road to somewhere” – Orhan Pamuk, Turkish author and Nobel Prize Winner
Ronnie plans his deliveries and collections in advance at the beginning of the day but will possibly change the planned order if he sees traffic building up on a particular route. Twenty years of driving as his full-time occupation means that he really knows his way around most parts of Gauteng! Ronnie today has a ‘map in his head’ of the Johannesburg and Pretoria area, and if a destination is unfamiliar to him, he leaves extra time so he can still arrive on time, even if he takes a rare wrong turn.
Ronnie says that before navigation apps were available on smartphones, he used a map book. Today he uses a mix of old and new methods, using an app to mainly check the conditions before he leaves the office.
He explains: “The conditions can change within only ten minutes of joining the highway. Vox Head Office is situated in Waterfall, Midrand and the building overlooks the M1 highway, so I will often go upstairs to look at the traffic on the road outside before choosing my route.”
“I’ll often check my route on a laptop beforehand and will sometimes write some of the directions on paper, so I can know where to turn even without the app. I do find that sometimes the phone apps send me a longer way! Once I’ve been to a place, I’m able to work out the best route for another time.”
For tight deadlines and important drop-offs at sites with long gate queues or difficult access, Ronnie takes a colleague with him. On arrival, the colleague will then jump out and run in with the delivery while Ronnie deals with the car. One of his longest work trips was to Limpopo, more than 300 km each way, there and back in a single day, but driving back didn’t phase him: you could say that driving is his super power!
Challenges on the Road
“The best car safety device is a careful driver.”
Ronnie says his biggest regular challenge is leaving the office with enough time, only to hit heavy traffic as he joins the highway. By then the nearest exit may be too far away to avoid it. He has to judge quickly whether the back roads will be faster or whether it’s better to stay on the highway. This matters most when delivering tenders, which have fixed deadlines, while ordinary deliveries usually have more flexibility.
He adds: “Some delivery sites, especially in Pretoria, have no parking close by, and so I might have to park two streets away and walk. Pay parking is not usually a problem today, apart from some shopping centres and buildings. In the past there were coin parking meters, and self-designated car guards sometimes tampered with them.”
Ronnie is naturally calm on the road, which works well for him when dealing with some regular frustrations: “I get annoyed by those drivers who see you indicate and then suddenly speed up to close a gap that you were trying to move into! Another common problem is drivers who sit in the fast lane on the highway and won’t move over, even when they can see a faster car coming.
“I do believe that when I was driving 20 years ago, it was easier. Today, there is far more traffic, and in my view, many more drivers are worse. As far as road conditions go, I would say that the highways are generally fine. Some back roads are in poor condition, and traffic lights that are out of order are a frequent problem.”
The Joy in the Journey
“Highways are a ribbon that connects cities, people, and stories.”
For Ronnie, the joy is truly in the journey, probably more than the destination, and so he cherishes his weekend downtime. It helps him to recharge his batteries to be ready once again for the busyness, and the business, of Mondays to Fridays on the road for Vox.
Away from work, one of his main interests is golf, which he enjoys very much, perhaps because, like driving, it’s a solo pursuit where the player thinks strategically and stays in control of their own space, despite potential outside influences.
He clarifies: “My interest in golf began when I started caddying at the age of 14, at the Kensington Golf Club. I worked as a caddy for 11 years and I learned how to play golf by watching the golfers: how they stood, held the golf club and swung before hitting the ball. Then I would practise during school holidays.
“I enjoy playing, but find it expensive, so I only get to a golf course occasionally. I also enjoy watching the game and understand it well, with my favourite players being mostly from the older generation: Greg Norman, Tiger Woods and Tom Watson. I watch the Ryder Cup when I can and I always enjoy watching the golf tournaments that take place at Sun City.”
He also enjoys football and follows a team but doesn’t watch matches: “I find it too nerve-wracking, and watching with other people can lead to arguments when tempers run high! I prefer simply to find out the score,” he smiles.
At weekends, he says he likes to spend time with his wife quietly at home: “Our children are grown up and living independently – no grandchildren yet! – and I like to spend a good part of my weekends making sure everything is clean, tidy and maintained at home, inside and out.
“So I’ll be outside doing any maintenance work – unless it rains! – and I’ll see if anything needs to be painted or fixed. I also like listening to music when I’m at home, because during the week, I listen to the radio in the car to keep up with traffic reports.”
It’s a peaceful description of his down-time, which helps Ronnie to recharge his batteries for his weekdays. He makes it look effortless, but there’s no doubt that being a driver for a company as busy as Vox is physically and mentally demanding.
As one of South Africa’s most innovative internet service providers (ISPs), Vox enables people to stay connected and tell their stories, and in his valuable daily work, so Ronnie is an integral part of this.
Whenever he’s on the road for a delivery that helps Vox employees to keep moving forward, he himself becomes part of the highways that are a ‘ribbon that connects cities, people, and stories’.
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