The City of Cape Town hosted a special recognition ceremony last week to honour long serving and retired officials from the Spatial Planning and Environment Directorate. These dedicated public servants, whose careers began during some of South Africa’s most challenging years, were celebrated for their decades of service and lasting impact.
Reportedly, the City continued to plan, consolidate departments, even during the early years after the country’s first post-1994 elections, while communities faced immense challenges, and lay the groundwork for a more inclusive future by establishing foundations for equitable development, stronger spatial planning and more environmentally sustainable growth.
At the Spatial Planning and Environment Long Service recognition ceremony held at the Cape Town Civic Centre on February 25, 2026. Several long-serving officials shared their inspiring journeys of transformation, service and dedication.
André Maxwell, from Strandfontein, who has been with the City of Cape Town for over 30 years and is currently Manager: Support Services for this Directorate, he said that when he joined the City, people of colour could not start their careers in certain designated administrative roles.
He said that he started as a messenger, carrying paper trails before emails existed. He worked with handwritten letters and documents were typed in triplicate in the typing pool and more. He stated that this role became his foundation.
“I learned how the institution worked from the ground up. The apartheid years were difficult for our communities, but the City began positioning itself for change,” said Maxwell.
He further explained that in the 1990s, departments were amalgamated, forward planning strengthened and new pathways were opened. André Maxwell said, “My journey from messenger to manager-level leadership shows that transformation is not just something we speak about. It is something we live.”
Maxwell’s journey, from messenger to Manager: Support Services, demonstrates how transformation is not just a concept, but a lived experience, something that the City has began embracing as early as the 1990s.
Considering this, Deputy Mayor and Member of the Mayoral Committee for Spatial Planning and Environment – Alderman Eddie Andrews said that the cities are not built in moments of applause or headlines. Cities are built in offices, on sites, in meetings and through decisions made carefully, ethically, and often under pressure.
According to him, they are built through institutional memory, professional integrity and a deep sense of public duty. The contribution of those they recognised at the recent awards is measured not only in years, but in impact. They have further shaped neighbourhoods, guided development, protected the environment, strengthened the systems and mentored the next generation of professionals.