The Durban University of Technology celebrated Institutional Research Day recently. Richard Mwaipungu, a Tanzanian student completing his DTech in Civil Engineering at DUT, presented his research on gravel roads…

The Durban University of Technology celebrated Institutional Research Day recently. Richard Mwaipungu, a Tanzanian student completing his DTech in Civil Engineering at DUT, presented his research on gravel roads. His research is based on maintaining these gravel roads to be in the best conditions possible. Mwaipungu is currently doing this in Tanzania where he says about 85% of roads are gravel. “The models that we use are not African models and nobody is challenging them about it,” said Mwaipungu.

One of the things closest to Mwaipungu’s heart is the knowledge and the consciousness about who he is in the world. He explained that he has experienced a lot in Africa as he has been to Zimbabwe, South Africa, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Kenya, and Ethiopia to mention a few, as well as China.

He says what defines leadership in Africa today is materialism and that many African leaders are more or less the same. The father of three who lost his child says each and every African must remember what the late US President John F Kennedy said and put that into action.

“Kennedy said don’t ask what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. Americans did that – they built their country, but as Africans we are waiting for our governments to do something and they will do nothing for us,” said Mwaipungu.

However Mwaipungu believes it is time to for professionals and people to organise themselves for the greater good of our continent.

“As engineers we must come together and propose methods of what can we use, what we have right now to better our lives,” concluded Mwaipungu.

– Nqobizizwe Zwane