The Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) elected its first female president Refilwe Buthelezi following the sixth term council special meeting on May 5.
ECSA has not had a female president since its inception, with ECSA stating on May 6 that the election of Buthelezi in the engineering and built environment sector was a “major milestone in giving effect and responding to the national agenda of transformation”.
The appointment of a new ECSA president comes after the passing of previous ECSA president Mashao Lawrence Lebea in December 2021. ECSA said it had now found a fitting replacement and was therefore in good and capable hands.
In her role, Buthelezi will provide strategic leadership to ECSA to ensure it attains its strategic objective of becoming an effective regulator that assures engineering excellence as it continues to implement the 2020 to 2025 ECSA Strategic Plan.
Buthelezi will serve as president for the remainder of the term of office of the sixth term council, which runs from 2022 to 2025.