Walking with his bible in one hand, Dr Scelo Mhlongo (38) made his way onto the stage, armed with his faith and spiritual guidance, which was his great source of strength and inspiration throughout his academic and personal journey.
The charismatic pastor was conferred with his Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Built Environment at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) 2025 Autumn Graduation Ceremony at the Olive Convention Centre on Tuesday, 27 May 2025.
Dr Mhlongo, who works at DUT, was ecstatic to have family, especially his wife and three boys to watch him proudly receive his PhD at the prestigious DUT ceremony today.
When asked about what his thoughts were upon receiving his doctoral degree, Dr Mhlongo remarked that he was extremely happy and it seemed surreal, like he was in a dream.
“I truly worked hard to achieve this academic excellence and I contributed to the board of knowledge and worked well with the Departmental Research Committee (DRC) at DUT. This committee played a vital role in my research process, particularly in the reviewing and approval of my research proposal and the annual progress reports,” he emphasised.
Sharing more on his academic research, Dr Mhlongo spoke on his thesis, titled: A feasibility study for the development of an automation tender processes: A Case of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Department of Public Works.
“The delivery of Construction (Building) Projects have been associated with unethical professional practices and heave resulted in adverse outcomes. These outcomes have led to unsustainable growth of the industry at the Kwazulu-Natal province of South Africa,” he explained.
In his thesis he further indicated that the associated unethical practices range from corruption, political influences in the tendering and award of contracts and unhealthy professional practices.
“The standard operation procedure provides an organised foundation for the organisation’s infrastructure supply and maintenance that could easily be compromised,” he shared.
Dr Mhlongo expressed that this study aims to investigate factors that militate against tendering processes, with the view of developing an automation system of tendering processes at the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Department of Public Works (DPW), South Africa (SA) with a view to eliminate unsustainable practices in the delivery of projects.
“Findings of the study reveal corruption, political and unethical practices as the factors causing poor tendering process at the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Department of Public Works (DPW). These ultimately adversely impact on time and cost leading to increases. Based on these, the study developed an app to automate the processes of tendering at the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Department of Public Works (DPW), South Africa (SA). The study also found that benefit accrues from automated tendering systems. These are reduction in corruption, affords transparency, the elimination of paperwork and paper. The study recommends the adoption of the app developed for tendering practices for the procurement of projects at KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Department of Public Works (DPW), South Africa (SA),” he indicated.
Dr Mhlongo expressed that his wish is to be hopeful that the Department of Public Works would consider using his app to automate the processes of tendering at the workplace.
Pictured: Dr Scelo Mhlongo
Waheeda Peters
