Institute News

Meet the new 2020-2022 management team At the end of

Traditionally, the new President is inaugurated at the annual IMESA Conference in October, but that was not possible this year due to Covid-19. The next annual conference will now be hosted between 17 and 19 November 2021 in Cape Town in collaboration with the International Association for Water, Environment, Energy, and Society. In the meantime, IMESA’s Exco team will continue to forge ahead in delivering the Institute’s mandate of promoting and capacitating municipal engineering excellence across South Africa. The 20202022 Office Bearers will be led by Bhavna Soni, who becomes IMESA’s first woman President. each two-year cycle, a new IMESA President takes the helm for the next 24-month cycle, supported by the Immediate Past President as deputy and two Vice Presidents. These are ex-officio members of Council together with the Operations and Technical Directors that comprise the executive committee.

NEW INCOMING PRESIDENT (NOVEMBER 2020 TO OCTOBER 2022)

BHAVNA SONI, PR ENG

Bhavna Soni matriculated in 1982 and obtained her BSc Civil Engineering in 1987 from South Gujarat University in India. She married a South African and settled here in 1990. She has been a registered professional engineer since 2008.

Bhavna worked in the consulting field as a structural engineer prior to joining eThekwini Municipality in 1997. She subsequently worked in the Design Department, working on reservoir and pipeline projects. She then moved to the Planning Department, where her duties involved designing bulk water infrastructure for the eThekwini region. In 2005, Bhavna was promoted to the position of manager: Rural Systems.

Later in 2008, she was promoted to senior manager: Water Operations, combining rural and urban areas. Bhavna also acted as deputy head for water and waste operations for two years before being appointed to her current position as a deputy head: Engineering for eThekwini’s Water & Sanitation Unit.

Currently, she is responsible for the design and implementation of water and wastewater infrastructure, as well as providing strategic direction to reduce non-revenue water within the eThekwini region.

Bhavna joined IMESA in 2008 and has served on Exco since 2014.

DEPUTY PRESIDENT (AND IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT)

Randeer Kasserchun is deputy head of eThekwini’s Coastal Stormwater & Catchment Management Department, Engineering Unit.

He matriculated in Durban and graduated with a BSc Civil Engineering from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (Westville) in 1994. During 1995-96, he attended the School of Public Policy and Development Management at the University of KwaZulu-Natal where he obtained a Postgraduate Certificate in Development Management.

Randeer joined the City of Durban as a graduate hydraulic engineer in 1995. He registered as a professional engineer in 1997. He has been practising in the hydrology and coastal engineering fields for the past 20 years. He is a corporate member of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE). He occupied the post of IMESA Vice President (Technical Division) for 2015-16 and 2016-18. He was also President of IMESA for the 2018-20 period.

Randeer was the engineer on the Umhlanga Pier, which received the SAlCE Durban Branch Award for Technical Excellence in 2007. In 2008, he received the IMESA National Award (Structures Category) for this project. In 2014, the Umhlanga Pier was declared the ‘World’s most beautiful pier’ by news channel CNN.

He was also the engineer on the Sandile Thusi Pier, which won the IMESA National Award and the CoGTA KZN Award for Most Innovative Structure in 2012.

RANDEER KASSERCHUN, PR ENG, HONORARY FELLOW IMESA

VICE PRESIDENT – TECHNICAL

PIETER MYBURGH, PR ENG, FELLOW IMESA

Pieter Myburgh studied at Jim Fouche High School, Bloemfontein, before going on to complete his BEng (Hons) Civil Engineering at the University of Pretoria in 1992.

He has worked mainly in traffic and transportation engineering and currently holds the position of senior manager: Streets and Stormwater at Mossel Bay Local Municipality.

He joined IMESA in 1992 and is an active member of the Southern Cape/Karoo Branch, serving on the branch committee and previously as Branch Chairperson.

He served on IMESA’s Council for several years before being elected to Exco in 2010, where he held the portfolio of Technical Director: Roads, Transportation and Stormwater, until he was elected Vice President: Technical for the 2018-20 period.

Pieter has now been re-elected to continue overseeing IMESA projects as Vice President: Technical for 2020-22.

VICE-PRESIDENT – OPERATIONS

GEOFFREY TOOLEY, PR ENG

Geoffrey Tooley completed his BSc Civil Engineering in 1987 at the University of Natal, Durban. He started work at the Durban City Council in 1990, now eThekwini Municipality, and registered as a professional engineer in 1998.

He held the position of manager: Stormwater Design from May 2001 to Feb 2006. In March 2006, he was appointed manager: Catchment Management at eThekwini.

As manager of the Catchment Management section, he is responsible for work relating to the rivers in eThekwini, including floodlines, stormwater management plans, master drainage plans, rainfall distribution figures and erosion control, as well as adaptation plans related to flooding. Geoffrey was part of the team that developed the Municipal Adaptation Plan for the Water Sector – adopted by council in 2009. He also managed the development of the new stormwater management policy for eThekwini, passed through council in 2014. Additionally, he was part of the team that developed the Durban Climate Change Strategy.

Geoffrey was the co-author and presenter of a paper titled ‘Adaptation in practice: Durban, South Africa’ at the 1st World Congress on Cities and Adaptation to Climate Change hosted by ICLEA in Bonn, Germany, in May 2010.

He is a member of the Water Research Commission reference groups for: • Alternative technology for stormwater management (K5/1826) • Influence of catchment development on peak urban runoff (K5/1752) • Water sensitive urban design (WSUD) for South Africa:

Framework and guidelines (K5/2071). Previously, he has held the Operations Director portfolios for Bursaries, CPD and Head Office Support at IMESA. He lectures for SAICE in Durban on stormwater design, as part of their continued education programme.