During the July council meeting, two Tshwane metro officials received awards for excellence in publishing.
The recipients were Dr Johan Kok and firefighter Lindsay Mnguni.
“I feel very much honoured and appreciative that I am recognised by the City from the Executive Mayor Councillor Stevens Mokgalapa to the general employee, as well as the citizens,” Mguni said.
He said this made him proud and wanting to do more for the city.
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“I began working as a firefighter recruit in the Benoni fire and emergency services in 2000,” he said.
“After that, in July 2001, I joined the City of Tshwane fire brigade.”
In 2006, he was promoted to company commander and worked at Centurion fire station.
“I transformed my passion, dedication and commitment as a firefighter into being a true brand ambassador for the Tshwane metro and the emergency services department through the publication of my book, Firefighter: First and Foremost.”
The book chronicles his journey as a firefighter and his love for the job, and it takes the reader through the international rescue missions that he participated in in Haiti, the Philippines and Japan.
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A book launch will be held at Tshwane House on 21 September this year.
Dr Kok said he maintained an academic affiliation with the Tshwane metro police and, in addition to his contribution to the metro over the years, he has also made significant academic contributions to the field of mathematics, specifically graph theory and proving what he calls “Lucky’s Theorem”, which is named after the late Lucky Mahlalela.
Mahlalela is a “self-appointed pointsman” who was well known to many Tshwane residents before he was allegedly murdered in 2018.
“I feel extremely honoured. I never expected such acknowledgement, particularly in respect of my ‘freelance’ maths research. My employer was good to me over many years,” Kok said.
He said he also assisted in the establishment of the Tshwane metro police and subsequently became director of licensing services.
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Kok said he had published numerous other research papers and is now co-authoring his 98th research paper in Discrete Mathematics and Applications.
Tshwane community safety MMC Karen Meyer said both Mnguni and Dr Kok were sources of pride for the city.
“We recognise their individual accomplishments above and beyond their respective contributions to the Tshwane metro as employees,” she said.
“We are extremely proud. It shows employees that we appreciate and acknowledge their accomplishments. This should encourage employees to become CoT brand ambassadors.”
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