City of Joburg
The newly appointed head of Facilities Enhancement within Community Development, MoeketsiMohlabi, is passionate about structural engineering, the kind of infrastructure that plays a crucial role in the improvement of communities.
Mohlabi recently won a prestigious municipal engineering award, which recognised the oval-shaped council chamber for its environmentally friendly and climate-conscious design, a project he oversaw.
At the time, Mohlabi was heading up the City’s Engineering Centre of Excellence, which is responsible for overall contract management, project monitoring and evaluation, with a slant towards citywide capital projects.
He has since been promoted to head up the community development unit responsible for the betterment of swimming pools, libraries and recreation centres, where his passion lies.
“I am passionate about all engineering work, particularly good buildings; infrastructure that the community can live and play in, where people can commute easily,” he says.
A decorated civil servant, Mohlabi is a Civil Engineering Technologist by profession, with more than 21 years’ experience in the construction of civil and social infrastructure. He has been with the City for five years now, having previously worked for the Ekurhuleni metro.
The ultramodern City of Joburg Council Chamber, which embodies the municipality’s commitment to transparent governance and environmental sustainability, won the Institute of Municipal Engineering of Southern Africa (IMESA) and the Consulting Engineers of South Africa (CESA) award in November.
This after Mohlabi, a registered member of the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) entered the building for the IMESA awards for its ultramodern architectural design.
IMESA runs municipal engineering excellence awards every two years. Mohlabi entered two projects for the awards, including the newly constructed BRT Bridge in Marlboro and the oval-shaped Council Chamber in Braamfontein, for which he won the IMESA award.
“It feels great to have won the award because the City has a plethora of projects it needs to celebrate,” he says.
Mohlabi, who is currently studying towards a master’s in engineering management, says the City needs to celebrate its successes in the construction of ground-breaking infrastructure projects.
“Joburg needs more trophies in its cabinet. I mean we spend about R7-billion on capital projects annually. They are surely worth receiving awards for. We need to show that in the City we are not just officials, we have engineering knowledge and background,” he enthuses.
