September 26, 2003
By Bongani Majola
NEWLY appointed mayoral committee member Hilda Mokoena is a feisty activist and sees her new role as a calling that she could not refuse.
Mokoena, who now takes over the reigns of the Department of Development Planning, Transport and Environment from Parks Tau, sees her new job as something she has to do "for the betterment of the City and its citizens".
While acknowledging that the task is a mammoth one, she says she will approach it "with team spirit, because the minute you see yourself as a leader, it becomes difficult - you are left alone with the blame when things don't go according to expectations". She sees the task as part of a collective responsibility.
Her department is responsible for development planning, transportation and environment, regulating the building and infrastructure developments for businesses and residential properties. It also oversees the infrastructure regarding transportation systems, as well as addressing issues of building a sustainable environment.
Praising the job done by her predecessor, Mokoena describes Tau as "very unassuming, yet intelligent, articulate and hardworking", adding that he had made her job less difficult. He was very clear on policy and left proper systems in place."
Mokoena has impeccable credentials for the task, having been a councillor since 2000, first in the Northern Metro Local Council and then the Johannesburg City Council. She has served on the ethics committee and the tenders committee.
With a BA honour's degree in employment relations and a diploma in industrial relations behind her, Mokoena still serves as a commissioner on the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration. "My professional expertise lies in conflict management, so I intend cementing good relations within the planning department, as well as outside the department," she says.
Mokoena brings vast political experience to her position: having spent time in detention with the other antiapartheid stalwarts Winnie Madikizela Mandela and Fatima Meer; operated as an activist while working as a typist for Anglo-American; and married to a husband who coordinated the Release Mandela Campaign. "Behind a typist's desk and right under Oppenheimer's nose, we plotted political activities to topple the apartheid government," she says.
Her political background is obvious, with names of fellow activists and now political heavyweights mentioned as a matter of course in conversation. She mentions Terror Lekota, Frank Chikane, Vusi Khanyile, the late Sipho Malaza, and legal eagles Tiego Moseneke and Dali Mpofu.
Married to Aubrey Mokoena, who is now a Member of Parliament, Mokoena says she and her husband named their eldest child Mandela Mokoena as testimony to the years they spent in the hope that one day Nelson Mandela would be released. "I never thought we would see Nelson Mandela again!"
Mokoena, who was born in Krugersdorp, now lives with her husband and two children, Mandela (23) and Naledi (17) in Orlando East, Soweto.
Although her background suggests she should be functioning on a national rather than local level, Mokoena believes in working closely with the communities at the grassroots level. "I have never aspired to work in Parliament and have refused such an offer. I prefer working closely with communities on the ground and the municipality is the best place for me," she says.
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