Experienced water infrastructure specialist Vuyani Ernest Gxagxama has been inaugurated as the new president of the Institute of Municipal Engineering of Southern Africa (IMESA) at the organisation’s 2026 annual conference currently taking place in Durban.
With more than 30 years of experience spanning heavy-duty engineering, consulting engineering, nuclear energy and public sector infrastructure development, Gxagxama brings extensive technical expertise and a strong commitment to professionalising municipal engineering to his new leadership role. A central theme throughout his career has been strengthening infrastructure delivery, particularly in the water and sanitation sector, where municipalities face complex challenges.
Gxagxama currently serves in the national Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), where his responsibilities include supporting infrastructure programmes in Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni and representing the department in Gauteng's intergovernmental infrastructure initiatives. He has also been seconded to the Presidential Task Team addressing Gauteng's water challenges and serves as the department's champion for infrastructure asset management strategy in support of municipalities.
His experience includes supporting major regional sanitation infrastructure projects, evaluating municipal infrastructure funding proposals and contributing to the implementation of priority water and sanitation projects. In 2018, he was seconded to DWS operations in the Western Cape during the province's Day Zero water crisis.
A champion of professional development and collaboration
Gxagxama's appointment follows more than a decade of involvement with IMESA, which he joined in 2013. He has served on its Council since 2016 and Executive Committee since 2021, most recently as Vice President: Technical Divisions. In this capacity, he has helped advance IMESA's engineering programmes, strengthen relationships with other professional institutions and revitalise technical workgroups.
He has also contributed to IMESA's input into the review of the Local Government White Paper and efforts to strengthen relationships with the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) and Local Government Sector Education and Training Authority (LGSETA).
His professional involvement extends to the South African Institution of Civil Engineering's Water Engineering Division, where he has served on its committee for several terms since 2015, and the Construction Industry Development Board's National Stakeholders Forum, where he represents IMESA.
An advocate for developing young engineering professionals, Gxagxama has a particular interest in strengthening professional standards and technical capacity within local government.
He is also committed to expanding IMESA's reach across its branches and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.
A professionally registered engineering technologist with a BTech degree from Peninsula Technikon, now Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Gxagxama is currently pursuing a postgraduate MBA programme with Business School Netherlands, specialising in water management.
His leadership approach is underpinned by a strong belief in ethical conduct, accountability, knowledge-sharing and collaboration.
As he takes the helm of IMESA from outgoing president Geoff Tooley, Gxagxama brings a combination of practical infrastructure experience, institutional knowledge and a commitment to building the engineering expertise needed to support municipalities and improve infrastructure service delivery.