Pretoria – Too many things have changed in the life of executive mayor Solly Msimanga since he was appointed to lead the city on August 19.
His work as the mayor had cost him the quality time he used to spend with his family.
“During the campaign I had less time for my family and other things. And now that I am the mayor I am finding that I have even less time,” he said.
The 36-year-old mayor jokingly said he had grown a grey hair since he assumed office.
“I have grown a little bit of grey hair and I don’t know whether you can see it.
Read: 5 things Msimanga has changed in Tshwane
"But this journey has been a humbling experience,” he said.
Besides the grey hair, Msimanga expressed no regrets about taking on the political life of the first citizen of Tshwane, because it had been fulfilling.
He said that being in charge of the metropolitan municipality had been a fulfilling experience because it afforded him a chance to do things he promised during the electioneering period.
Regarding his expectations before he became mayor, he said: “There are things that we knew that we knew and there were things that we knew that we didn’t know.”
However, having been in the office for six months had made him realise “how bad certain things at the city were and how good certain things could be”.
Some things just needed a management change to get them going in the right way, he said.
Msimanga said: “Personally, it has been a fulfilling experience to say that I am now getting to do what I said I should do.”
He was happy for the chance to fix what is broken, all of it inherited from the previously ANC-run municipality.
“Somebody said to me that maybe I should have gone the engineering route because I like fixing things.
“But I have got to fix what is broken and enhance what is good in the city,” he said.
Besides the tumultuous time he has constantly faced in council sittings, from ANC councillors who disrupted meetings, Msimanga said: “I think things would stabilise in the next year and we will be able to move forward, but I wouldn’t trade this for anything else.”