‘As an inclusive City, we always strive to support employees, including women, by creating a conducive environment where they can develop, be empowered and ultimately excel in the performance of their jobs,’ said the City of Cape Town’s Mayoral Committee Member for Transport and Urban Development, Councillor Brett Herron.

 
Thandeka Dukhwe (39), married and a mother of two, said she was inspired to pursue civil engineering after seeing the conditions of the village she grew up in the Eastern Cape. There were no roads, no water supply or sanitation services. She wanted to be instrumental in the design and construction of this much-needed infrastructure.

After completing her studies, she worked for two companies before joining the City in 2009 as a principal technician.

Since then, Thandeka has been unstoppable. Initially, she served as a panel member and subsequently led the panel inspections, doing visual assessment of flexible pavement and other pavements like cobbled stones, concrete and segmented blocks.

This involved compiling the programmes for the resurfacing, maintenance and rehabilitation of metro roads and technical support to eight districts and the implementation of metro roads projects.

The purpose of the panel inspections was to evaluate the metro’s roads in order to determine, among other things, the following:

• current pavement condition
• maintenance and rehabilitation needs and priorities at network level
• planning route for panel inspection
• identify failure mechanism, assigning the appropriate remedial action or refer for detailed investigation

In November 2013, Thandeka was promoted to senior professional officer at one of the City’s district offices. 

Her role included compiling schedules for the maintenance and reseal programme as well as implementing roads and stormwater projects by ensuring that new and upgraded infrastructure is delivered on time, and within budget to the agreed standards.

On 1 August 2018, Thandeka was promoted to principal professional officer.

‘I have been in the field for 14 years, I am very grateful for the opportunity, support, guidance, and encouragement I got from everyone I’ve worked with.

‘I am proud be part of the TDA. I have learnt so much from my male counterparts and am excited about my new role. I am honoured to be given the responsibility, but am also aware that there is much work to do,’ said Thandeka.

A woman who made a presentation about civil engineering at her school inspired Nompendulo Bongwana (38) to become a civil engineer. She wanted to be like that woman and ensured that she did well in mathematics and physical science to qualify for the course.

Nompendulo has been working as a senior superintendent at the City’s Heideveld roads depot since 2014. Her duties include managing the roads and stormwater depot, maintenance and construction work, and supervising staff. She also manages a specialised roads and stormwater maintenance programme and general repair works, as well as drawing up management reports. 

Nompendulo says she overcomes the challenges in her field by learning from her mistakes, and then moving on.

‘I am also inspired by Nompendulo and Thandeka. Their perseverance, dedication and hard work should motivate other women and men in our directorate. Their promotions are well deserved. Not only do they rock our roads, but our boardrooms as well. We realise that we can do more to see more women in traditionally male-dominated careers. One of the key programmes in addressing this challenge is the establishment of all-women road repair teams across the city. I am so proud of these women of strength and courage, phambili zimbokodo, phambili,’ said Councillor Herron.

End