THEMBISILE HANI LOCAL MUNICIPALITY

Appoints a new municipal manager, the youngest in the country

The Council of Thembisile Hani Local Municipality (THLM) took a conscious decision to appoint its youngest Head of Administration, Mr. Dumisani Mahlangu with effect from the 1st of September 2022, on a 5-year fixed-term contract. The affirmation of youngest, is not just in relation to THLM, but the country at large.

Mahlangu is a product of the Engineering and Built Environment Sector, having garnered vast experience in the Civil Engineering and Construction sectors when he was applying his trade during the early stages of his professional career amongst renowned consulting engineering and construction firms. He branched into the Public Sector when he joined THLM in July 2015 as its Project Management Unit (PMU) Manager, before heading to Nkangala District Municipality (NDM) to head up its Technical Services Department in March of 2019.

Born 26th of November 1986, in KwaMhlanga, an area within THLM, his primary and high schooling days can be tracked back to Star of Hope Independent School (in Moloto) and Nigel High School, respectively. Mahlangu began his tertiary education studying Electrical Engineering at Vaal University of Technology before taking a detour to study Civil Engineering at the Central University of Technology, Free State, where he graduated with a Baccalaureus of Technologiae in Civil (Transportation) Engineering in 2012. It was during this period that simultaneously applied his trade with Aurecon (an International Consulting Engineering Firm) and continued with Keren Kula Construction (a black female-owned Grade-9 Construction Firm).

Municipal Manager: Mr. Dumisani Mahlangu

“Great administration lays on four major standards, which are fairness, accountability, responsibility, and transparency”, says Mahlangu.

Mahlangu is a family man, a husband and a father of two, a son and a brother who enjoys nothing more than spending quality time at the family homestead - and would firmly advocate for Sundays being family days! What we do know about Dumisani is that deejaying and cycling are amongst his extra-mural activities that he enjoys most, notwithstanding the production of articles here and there.

Amongst the articles that Dumisani has written, two published articles stand out, and he implores citizens to set aside time and read them in their spare time, they are:

• Leadership and Organisational Behaviour, Factors that Collectively Contribute to the Success of the Team, which was published on the 21st of April 2021;

• The Construction Industry in South Africa is Undergoing a Litmus Test, which was first written in June 2021, but reworked and published on the 10th of August 2021;

The Concept of Ubuntu and the Rationale of the Transparency Principle is the one that is yet to be published.

Mahlangu obtained his Post Graduate Diploma (PGD) in Business Administration in November 2020 from the University of South Africa Graduate School of Business Leadership (UNISA), and this prompted him to pursue his Master of Business Administration (MBA), which he plans on completing on/or before December 2022.

Given the challenges that are experienced by the Construction Industry, the title of his MBA research is the “Impact of Preferential Procurement on the Construction Industry in South Africa”, and he plans on publishing it once graded as his contribution to nation building in a professionalized state.

Further academic credentials under his belt are:

Programme in Project Management Certificate that he attained from University of Pretoria (UP) in November 2017,

Municipal Finance and Management Programme (MFMP) Certificate that be attained with the Wits School of Governance in November 2020.

Zooming back to his appointment as THLM’s Accounting Officer, Mahlangu has since vowed and/or pledged to serve the community of THLM diligently, efficiently, effectively, honestly and with integrity and humility, and has since adopted the slogan of the Executive Mayor, which reads that “work conquers everything, every time. No explanation, no report, no clarity, but work”. “When you do something out of love, you don’t count the cost, notwithstanding the scientific finding that great administration lays on four major standards, which are fairness, accountability, responsibility, and transparency”, says Mahlangu.

Mahlangu, a young, energetic leader with integrity believes that “leadership is about being genuinely obsessed with the development of others”, and others in this context are the people of Thembisile Hani Local Municipality.

Municipal Manager : Mr. Dumisani Mahlangu