Man of the night

The South African Institute of Electrical Engineers (SAIEE) awarded City Power’s managing director, Sicelo Xulu with the President’s Award in recognition of his contribution to the South African spectrum of local government electricity utilities.

Xulu said it was an honour to accept the award and was deeply humbled. “I was inspired by the stories of change I heard during the ceremony,” he said. “I would like to thank the City of Johannesburg’s city manager, Trevor Fowler for allowing me to participate in various membership boards. I thank the Association of Municipal Electricity Utilities for allowing my skills and expertise to serve the interests of the country. I also want to thank the City Power board, management, staff and my family.”

City Power spokesperson, Yumna Sheik said as an organisation they were proud that Xulu had been acknowledged for his contribution and abilities. The organisation had instigated a number of implementations under his leadership.

“The load-limiting initiative that aims to limit load-shedding has been a success and in terms of turnaround implementations, there has been visible improvement in revenue collection. He was also instrumental in facilitating government to classify cable theft as an act of economic sabotage,” said Sheik.

She added that Xulu supported undergraduates and graduates who were unemployed and City Power had employed 24 students through a partnership with the National Treasury and SAIEE.

“The job opportunities were open to anyone who wished to apply and were advertised in different publications. The applicants will start during the course of the year in their new positions. City Power continues to implement new technology and we encourage residents to offer their support in our drive to be a world-class energy supplier,” concluded Sheik.