Khiba shares a great passion for the improvement of inner-city neighbourhoods, working to ensure they are clean, safe, and accessible for all.​​

She has spent most of her career life in urban space management, having worked her way up the ranks across various companies, including Excellerate Managed Services (precinct division) and the Rosebank Management District.

She is currently employed by the Johannesburg Inner City Partnership (JICP) as a Programme Manager for WozaWork, an extensive job creation programme in the pipeline.

Khiba has set goals for herself in her new role, the first of which is to ensure the programme’s effective management, with the key focus areas being governance and administration as well as stakeholder management. Her second major focus is to create employment opportunities for residents of Johannesburg. Another goal she has set for herself is to onboard small businesses onto the WozaWork platform, as this is critical to the project’s success.

“I’m also working on training modules for the Urban Rangers, which will be carried out by the City Improvement Districts,” she adds. Khiba highlights that WozaWork is the perfect fit for bettering the inner-city.

“The programme will provide job opportunities to registered volunteers, who will earn digital credits via cellular phones for the value of tasks completed. The vouchers can be redeemed for a range of goods and services at participating inner-city businesses, small businesses, and NGOs located within ‘5-minutes’ of inner-city villages where the work is carried out,” she explains.

Khiba, originally from Soweto in Rockville, extols the benefits and advantages that Johannesburg has to offer. She emphasises that the inner-city is not without redeeming qualities and that, with a little love and attention, it may just find its way back to being a city of golden opportunities.

“Every city has its difficulties, but as a resident and one who is raising a family here, I need to see the bright side. It is even more important to create opportunities and be part of a movement that fixes and restores the inner-city. This is beneficial to residents who live here now and our children who will live here tomorrow,” she notes.

Khiba puts forward that people need opportunities, especially having faced the Covid-19 pandemic that has changed so many lives, and that is how WozaWork aims to bridge the gap.

“The pandemic has taught me to cherish every moment in life and that appreciating those around us is important. I have also learned the importance of coming together as a community for the greater good,” she says.

She highlights the JICP is designed to facilitate growth and transformation for all inner-city stakeholders through collaboration between the City of Johannesburg (CoJ), other spheres of government and the private sector. The desired outcome of the partnership is accelerated, more inclusive, shared, and sustainable growth.

“In pursuing its mandate, the JICP works with individual and corporate citizens and groups within the community to find sustainable ways to meet their social, economic, and material needs to improve the quality of life for all stakeholders as well as to make the inner-city a more attractive tourist, trade, and investment destination,” she explains.

Khiba reiterates she will spend the rest of her career looking for ways to uplift and better those around her. She will also continue to use her WozaWork resources for the benefit of all residents of Johannesburg.