By Johnathan Paoli
The City of Ekurhuleni has confirmed that it will not be renewing the contract of long-serving city manager Imogen Mashazi.
Mashazi, who became the metro’s first female city manager in December 2016, will step down at the end of her term later this year, capping nearly a decade in the top administrative post and over 30 years of dedicated public service.
The decision not to renew her contract comes amid shifting political dynamics in the city’s coalition government, but it has also sparked a wave of reflection on the legacy of one of one of the most respected senior administrators in South African local government.
A former nurse and healthcare administrator, Mashazi rose through the ranks from primary healthcare director to chief operations officer before being appointed city manager in 2016.
Under her leadership, Ekurhuleni gained a reputation for administrative stability, strong financial governance and developmental local government.
In 2020, she was honoured with the Public Sector Leader Award at the Virtual Top Empowerment Awards, a testament to her influence beyond the city’s borders.
A central theme of Mashazi’s tenure was a commitment to ethical governance.
She pushed for tighter internal controls, upskilled bid adjudication committees and was vocal about rooting out “dubious contracts” that undermined service delivery.
Mashazi’s leadership style, which she has described as equal parts democratic and autocratic, strived for accountability.
She chaired weekly senior management meetings, kept close track of departmental key performance indicators and was known to recall staff from leave to meet critical deadlines.
Beyond governance, Mashazi made strides in promoting gender equity in public leadership.
Almost half of Ekurhuleni’s heads of department during her tenure were women. Initiatives like the Women in Uniform and Women in Empowerment Legacy Project sought to uplift women across municipal and community sectors.
She also maintained a visible presence in communities, responding directly to residents’ concerns, particularly from informal settlements and taking a hands-on approach to service delivery.
“My cellphone is like a call centre,” she once remarked, highlighting her deep personal engagement with constituents.
The city has not given an official reason for declining to renew Mashazi’s contract, but insiders cite increasing political pressure and a push for “new energy” within the current multi-party coalition.
While her exit is not directly linked to her legal battles, it comes just over a year after the Labour Appeal Court upheld a contempt of court ruling against her for the city’s failure to implement an arbitration award for municipal workers.
The court found that Mashazi, as the city’s accounting officer, had acted in bad faith.
The 12-month prison sentence was suspended, and the city later resolved the labour dispute at a reduced cost.
While Mashazi denied personal wrongdoing and the city defended her intentions, the controversy cast a shadow over her record.
Reaction to the announcement has been swift.
Former Ekurhuleni mayor Mondli Gungubele, a key mentor in Mashazi’s early career, called her “a pillar of professionalism and community-driven leadership”.
Others within the administration credit her with building a capable metro bureaucracy that maintained resilience even during coalition instability.
A senior official in the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs remarked: “Dr Mashazi represents the best of public service. Her departure is not just a loss to Ekurhuleni but to the country’s developmental state project.”
At 64, Mashazi has hinted at plans to remain active in public life, possibly through community development, university governance or advocacy for ethical leadership.
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