EPIC-Africa Program Interviews | University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN)
By: Jonathan Kroeze
During the EPIC-Africa Learning Event at the University of Pretoria in February 2025, EPIC-N facilitated a number of interviews with our members to highlight their experience implementing the EPIC Model, along with their successes, challenges, and lessons learned. You can read the the previous interviews here. Our fifth interview is with Xolani Dhlamini, Masters Student at UKZN. Read Xolani’s interview below:
Xolani Dhlamini, Masters Student at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN)
Intro: My name is Xolani Dhlamini. I’m from Newcastle, and I’m doing my master’s in Development Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), which is located in Durban.
This is my first involvement with EPIC-N. I haven’t even been with them for a month. Personally, I love collaborating with EPIC-N because of their values. They love to collaborate with others, respect the values of other entities, and don’t force their own values on others. Instead, they try to find common ground. That’s why I want to be involved with EPIC-N.
Q: So, the first thing I’ll ask is if you want to expand on your presentation or your current project. (Xolani, as the only student representative at the event, presented his work, but had limited time to explain everything, so I wanted to give him a chance to dive a bit deeper.)
A: Okay, to expand on my project: Initially, my topic focused on Quarry Road, which is quite a specific area. However, my supervisor and I decided to change the topic to cover all the settlements in the area because we realized we couldn’t just focus on Quarry Road. There are other settlements that don’t get a chance to voice their concerns, and they also produce valuable information when you engage with them.
So now my project looks at informal settlements in the eThekwini Municipality to quantify the flood risks they are exposed to. We are also incorporating indigenous knowledge from the communities because being overly technical doesn’t always give you the edge.
When you introduce them to the project, you allow them to create their own knowledge and maps, in addition to using tools like ArcGIS and QGIS. This way, you can compare their maps with the technical ones.
Our goal is to identify risks and develop new communication strategies for the municipality. For example, during floods, not only are informal structures affected, but even formal ones. With constrained resources, the municipality can’t attend to everyone during floods.
So, we’re creating community-based strategies so that if a flood happens, they can take care of themselves. For instance, we’ve started training them on creating emergency evacuation routes.
Additionally, there’s a plan—not from me, but from an honors student—to create shelters for use during flood aftermaths. We’re trying to develop something community-based so that the municipality doesn’t have to waste resources.
In Quarry Road, we’ve seen improvements with training in first aid and fire safety. Now, we’re expanding to other settlements. The second informal settlement we’ve adopted is Poland Informal Settlement. Residents from Quarry Road are now teaching Poland residents, creating an interconnection.
Q: And then, just comparing to other coursework you’ve had—not only in your master’s but also in your undergrad—how has your work using the EPIC model in this course compared to just your regular average courses?
A: I believe it’s quite different because it’s more collaborative. In my honors research, I assessed the impacts of informal trade on women informal traders from Msunduzi. There were many of them, but I don’t feel they were given much of a voice to share their knowledge or experiences.
There was a disconnect because when I interviewed them, they felt I was from the authorities and became scared. As a result, I ended up using secondary data, which wasn’t as beneficial to the informal traders or the municipality.
But now, using the EPIC model, I’m funded under the project and able to work with the municipality, communities, and different entities like disaster management services and even the private sector.
For example, on Sunday morning, we presented something to residents in Quarry Road and another informal settlement. Now, it’s not just about floods; we’re including sanitation and other issues.
The EPIC model feels more fitting to my current research because more entities are willing to collaborate. It’s not just about submitting a good paper for marks but producing something that has real benefits for the future.
Personally, I don’t care about recognition or money. As long as I can see a slight difference in people’s lives and they can spread that positivity to other communities; that’s what matters.
The municipality has also opened doors to us. Over the past years, my supervisor has been a bridge between the municipality and community members. There was a gap, but now, for Quarry Road, we’ve developed an early warning system using a WhatsApp group.
The weather services inform the professor, who verifies the information and sends it to residents. This has lessened the number of casualties during floods because there’s now a connection. If the information came directly from the South African Weather Service, the community might not trust it, but because it comes from the professor, they respect it.
Q: I know you’re new to using the EPIC Model, but what’s a piece of advice you would give to a new student who’s maybe thinking about doing a course with this work or will be doing it for sure in the future?
A: My first advice is to have passion for what they do. Passion drives everything. They must be willing to listen to others. For example, you may have contradicting opinions, but you must respect others’ opinions and argue respectfully. Since yesterday, I haven’t had any clashes. It’s always about finding a solution. So, for me, it’s about having passion, creating a respectful environment, carrying yourself well, and being serious and eager to learn.
There are organizations with different governance styles, and I’ve been noting those down so I can expand my knowledge when I get home.
Written by: Jonathan Kroeze
Edited by: Ada Inman
