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Imogen Mashazi: Legacy of Ekurhuleni’s First Female City Manager
From nurse to city leader
Managing a metro like Ekurhuleni is no small task. Outgoing city manager Imogen Mashazi spent nearly a decade at the helm, balancing service delivery with financial oversight. Now retiring, she looks back on a career that began in Soweto’s hospitals and ended with her becoming the first woman to lead one of South Africa’s largest metros.
Early years shaped by struggle
Mashazi was born in Atteridgeville and later moved to Soweto, where her schooling was interrupted by the 1976 student uprisings. Despite two years away from classrooms, her academic drive saw her promoted through grades. That determination led her into nursing at Baragwanath Hospital, where she soon made her mark.
At the time, apartheid restrictions meant Black nurses were denied basic rights in clinics. Mashazi challenged the status quo, converting abandoned spaces into functioning clinics, pushing for equal treatment of staff, and expanding care to underserved areas like Orange Farm. Her persistence quickly propelled her into senior roles.
Building health services in Ekurhuleni
When Ekurhuleni was formed in the early 2000s, Mashazi joined its health department. As director of primary health care, she led a campaign against tuberculosis, raising treatment rates above 80 percent, higher than the national average. Under her leadership, the metro built more than 80 clinics that offered curative treatment, rehabilitation, social services, and preventative care under one roof.
Her results-driven style saw her promoted again, and by 2016, she broke new ground as the first woman appointed as city manager.
Governance and growth
As city manager, Mashazi oversaw key infrastructure: electrifying informal settlements, building reservoirs, extending water networks, improving waste collection, opening fire stations, and expanding the metro police service from 150 to over 1 000 officers.
But she says her proudest achievement was governance itself. Clean audits and lawful expenditure were her trademark. “We never approved irregular expenditure and never allowed deviations outside the law,” she said. For Mashazi, accountability was not a bonus; it was the baseline.
Facing the test of Covid
The pandemic exposed just how fragile municipal finances could be. Unlike state-owned enterprises, municipalities received no bailouts. For Mashazi, this highlighted the systemic weaknesses local governments continue to face.
What lies ahead
Though she is leaving office, Mashazi’s work is not done. She is developing a foundation to empower women, particularly those in uniform who face harassment and limited career paths. She points to the transformation she witnessed in Ekurhuleni, where women moved from superintendent ranks to becoming directors with postgraduate degrees.
She is also writing, consulting, and lending her expertise to other municipalities striving for better governance.
Also read: Late-Evening Terror at a Middelburg Café: A Witness Speaks Out
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Source: The Citizen
Featured Image: Inside Metros
