​Sello Mabaso is a Gauteng Department of Social Development official who has been appointed as the new Deputy Director for Sustainable Livelihood Directorate early this year. 
Mabaso started as a Transport Officer fifteen years ago when he joined the Gauteng Department of Social Development, and studying has also contributed immensely to his growth. 

When Mabaso joined the department as a Transport Officer, some of his responsibilities were to issue cars to officials and to inspect them. He was supposed to check vehicle roadworthiness amongst others. 

In 2010 he got a position as a Senior Admin in Sustainable Livelihood Directorate and acted as an Assistant Director for five years and later applied for Deputy Director position. 

“Like any other job I used to experience challenges where an official will submit a requisition late and expect to get a car and we were forced to call other officials to return the car or assign a driver of the department to drop them off,” says Mabaso. 

“I used to enjoy my work as Transport Officer as I was able to interact with my colleagues daily”.

In his new position as a Deputy Director, Mabaso is responsible for cooperatives development and departmental projects such as school uniform, agricultural and dignity packs. 

Mabaso is currently working on cooperative strategy which will unlock more opportunities for unemployed youth, women and people with disability. 

“Our aim as Sustainable Livelihoods Directorate is to fight poverty and to create more job opportunities for vulnerable groups. The challenges in working with the cooperatives is lack of compliance, governance and access to market opportunities. Most cooperatives are not business oriented, therefore it becomes a challenge for them because they rely on Social Development as the only source of market,” he said. 

Mabaso has been offered a bursary by the Gauteng Department of Social Development to study Postgraduate Diploma in Project Management. Mabaso has already obtained Diploma in Public Management and Higher Certificate in Community Development & Leadership.