Ekurhuleni’s metro’s city manager, Dr Imogen Mashazi, the first and only woman to occupy the position and to have obtained three consecutive clean audits from the auditor-general, has applauded and rewarded outstanding women employees to mark Women’s Month.
As part of the Women's Month celebrations, the City of Ekurhuleni hosted a prestigious City Manager’s Legacy Gala Dinner in Alberton this week.
Mashazi awarded the EMPD’s Chief Superintendent Betty Matsilane with an enormous trophy for winning the City Manager’s Special Award.
Attendees, dressed to the nines, included such City officials as Angie Ndhambi, Poppy Khoza, Sinazo Masina and Beauty Moholo.
Delivering her speech, Mashazi said it was back in 2017, a few months after being appointed city manager, that she took the decision to aggressively pursue the issue of gender equality in the workplace.
“This I initiated after I had observed for many years the struggles of women in the workplace,” said Mashazi.
She said one of the issues that one would have spotted was that certain positions and professions seemed to have been designed to discriminate against women, regardless of the fact that they may be equal to the task or even better at it than their male counterparts. She said also glaring was gender discrimination and the gender pay gap which were still realities that women faced daily.
“Being a woman I did this because I have come to understand that the world seems to be too harsh on women, when all we are asking for is a space to expose our intelligence and potential and unlock all of the great things that we possess.
“It is my sincere belief that women deserve to be appreciated, protected and respected. We must therefore all stand together in the struggle to ensure that women are given the same access to education, the same freedom of speech, and the same societal and political rights as men.
“Women’s emancipation is not negotiable but for us to achieve it we need to pull in same direction, no matter how challenging or hopeless things may seem,” said Mashazi.
She said thankfully over the years they had seen a whole lot of strong women role models in the country, in Africa and rest of the world emerging to help lift women up and lead the way.
“What one has learnt from such women is that they decided that they will pursue their ambitions to the fullest without limiting themselves. It is a fact that in most cases where women have never realised their full potential would be as a result of limiting their ambition – which can be attributed among others to the ancient narrative of a ‘woman’s place is in the kitchen’,” she said.
“It is still a sad reality that the belief that women are not worthy of an education, those women should have no role outside the home, that their bodies are not their own, their minds do not really matter, and their voices simply be suppressed, still exists,” said Mashazi.
She said when Nobel Prize-winning activist Malala Yousafzai turned 16 in July 2013 she delivered a profoundly inspiring address at the UN. Yousafzai spoke about how she had been shot by the Taliban in 2012, talked of her recovery and how grateful she was to be alive, and laid out an impassioned plea for equality.
"We call upon all communities to be tolerant — to reject prejudice based on cast, creed, sect, religion, or gender. To ensure freedom and equality for women so that they can flourish. We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back," Yousafzai said.
Mashazi said when she introduced the concept of the City Manager’s Women in Uniform in Community Safety programme seven years ago, she was not disillusioned. This was a decision that was taken following years of observing and closely following the struggle of women in the workplace, especially in the City of Ekurhuleni.
“The main focal point was community safety because for years women had been treated in this male-dominated space as second class citizens. Someone had to change this, and that person was me,” she said.
Mashazi said this era heralded a time when women officers and the Disaster and Emergency Management Services Department (DEMS) officials were provided with equal opportunities to their male counterparts both in terms of promotion and education.
“This I did because I understood that in order to unleash the full potential of women in these professions would be to give the deserving women a little motivation,” she said.
Madhazi said when the project started, there were no senior women officers in the EMPD nor senior women managers at DEMS. She said this project also unleashed the potential of women in academia as many grabbed bull by the horn and pursued their studies.
“Today some of the beneficiaries of this programme have Honours degrees, degrees, senior certificates and national certificates. Today we have directors, deputy directors, chief superintendents and superintendents and inspectors in the EMPD,” she said.
Sharing some of exciting statistics of this programme over the years, she said: “In 2017 there were only 479 female EMPD officers, and this number has rocketed to 793. Of these 46 were ranking officers; chief superintendents were seven, superintendents were 0, and inspectors were 29.
“Today I am proud to announce that the number of female members promoted between 2017 and 2024 stands at 64, directors two, deputy directors four, chief superintendents six, superintendents 14 and inspectors at 36.”
The total number of women recruited into the EMPD and wardens since 2017 was 674. There were 314 constables and 360 traffic wardens.
When it cames to academic advancement, Mashazi said she was proud to announce that 245 women employees had answered the call to advance their education in different fields.
“Just in the year under review, 18 women obtained their degrees; nine got post degrees while an additional five obtained national certificates,” she said .
Madhazi said since the project started in 2017, some of the highlights were 54 women who completed leadership development training, 47 who obtained national certificates in Public Finance Management and Administration; another 46 who obtained the same qualification in the MFMA; 18 who obtained national certificates in Water and Wastewater Reticulation; and 16 who obtained national certificates in Water and Waste Treatment.
She said another exciting element in this area were six women who decided to uplift themselves by taking and obtaining the Further Education and Training Certificate, while another 12 obtained national certificates in Occupationally Directed Education Training & Development Practices.
“It is also with a sense of great pride to share that when I became city manager there were less than 30% female HODs and I made it my business to bring more women into the top management and during my tenure I can tell you that out of the 23 HODs forming my SMT, 11 were females and I remain determined to achieve the 50% parity threshold once the new structure is approved by council,” she said.
Mashazi said it was with great pride that she could say gone were the days when women could only be seen as second best in the workplace. “Together, let us continue to claim our rightful place in society,” Mashazi said.
She said as the country wrapped up this year’s Women’s Month, it should be done by ensuring that the gains that had been made over the years were not reversed, for society could be very brutal in reversing the good that had been made should it not be protected.
“To achieve success, we must ensure that we do not serve merely as objects of history, un-organised and unseen beneficiaries of progressive change, but as subjects, conscious makers of history - our own liberators,” she said.
Mashazi said since the launch of the legacy project to focus on EMPD and DEMS, she had extended the scope to look at the emancipation of women in the employ of the institution.
“Since the relaunch of the project two years ago, I have also extended the scope to look at the advancement of the girl child. In this regard, career expos now form part of an annual programme where we go to schools to motivate the girl child and expose them to the career opportunities available in the institution.
“I must again emphasise that the need to increase the number of women in leadership is more than a mere tick-a-box exercise. Reality is that skills shortages create demand for more leaders holistically – hence the decision to ensure that women from a young age are empowered academically so that you are eligible for top management positions and a more significant role in society.
“As a parting shot, I wish to make it clear that on my part I shall continue being the advocate of women empowerment both in the workplace and in the external world because I am living proof that ‘it is possible’.
“I started as a nurse and today I am city manager of one of the leading metros in the country. This is not because of any favours, but hard work, determination and the commitment to serve the people of Ekurhuleni,” Mashazi said.
Saturday Star