City’s Imizamo Yethu electrification wins project of the year award

15 October 2025

The City’s Energy Directorate shines bright at the City’s Annual Engineering, Project and Contract Management (EPCM) Excellence Awards. The Imizamo Yethu Electrification project has been honoured with the Project of the Year for 2025 under the Project Excellence Category.

Following a devastating fire that destroyed a large number of homes in the Imizamo Yethu informal settlement in Hout Bay, the City’s Energy Directorate launched a targeted electrification initiative to help restore access to electricity services to the affected community. This multi-year project, led by the City’s Electrification Programme Management (EPM) Unit in close collaboration with the Informal Settlement Management Department and other internal partners, was completed despite complex site conditions thanks to widespread community support.

‘We are enormously proud of this achievement as it serves as a benchmark for future electrification projects across the metro. The City invested over R25 million for this award-winning Imizamo Yethu project, safely and legally connecting 1 150 homes to the electricity grid. This demonstrates that our service delivery is not only about expanding and maintaining our electricity infrastructure, but about restoring dignity and building safer communities.

‘This recognition belongs to every team member in Energy and Human Settlements and other supporting line departments whose effort and commitment made the success of this project possible. Our City teams working in informal settlements face extremely challenging and often heartbreaking conditions, but they are all incredibly dedicated to our most vulnerable residents. The City’s work to deliver improved services to all communities remains a key motivation and this award underscores our shared goal for a better Cape Town. We thank all project members and partners for their hard work and dedication and we look forward to many more successful projects in our communities,’ said the Mayoral Committee Member for Energy, Alderman Xanthea Limberg.

‘We are truly inspired by what our project achieved. This project stands as a testament to the teamwork of everyone involved and to making meaningful change in our communities. The award recognises exceptional execution, innovation, and measurable impact in project delivery. The judging process was based on the International Project Management Association (IPMA) Project Excellence model, which evaluates people and purpose, processes and resources, project results and lessons learnt. As part of this recognition, our electrification project will represent the City and the Energy Directorate, by participating at the next IPMA South African awards and with the intention of further participating in the next IPMA Global awards,’ said Maurisha Hammer, project lead for the Imizamo Yethu electrification project.

The Energy Directorate also won the following:

• IPMA Global Project Excellence Awards 2025: Silver Winner (Small to Medium Projects) – Paardevlei Switching Station

• PM Summit and Prestige Awards 2025: First runner up – Paardevlei Switching Station

• Wesley Barthus, Helderberg Electricity Depot Manager won Emerging Project Manager of the Year award at the PM Summit and Prestige Awards 2025. He also won Young Project Manager of the Year award at the City’s Annual EPCM Awards and will also be participating in the IPMA South African awards with the intention of further participating in the IPMA Global awards.

Caption: From left to right: Energy official Chrizano Jagers, Energy official Neo Zwane, Ben Peters, Director: Corporate Project, Programme and Portfolio Management, Energy official Samantha Matthews, Project Lead for the Imizamo Yethu electrification project Maurisha Hammer, and Energy official Alupheli Dinwayo.

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Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office