WHO WE ARE
DR SECHABA MAAPE
is a licensed architect and Director at Afreetekture, as well as Senior Lecturer in Architecture at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), where he convenes the Master’s in Urban Studies specialising in Sustainable and Energy Efficient Cities and supervises Master’s and PhD students. Originally from South Africa’s Northern Cape, his PhD research investigated early humans from his home region and the adaptive practices they developed to build resilience in the face of contingent environments. He has since built on this research, combining local relevance, climate adaptation, and spatial practice with digital technology. Sechaba has made generative AI central to both his teaching and professional practice, positioning it as a game changer for African development. Since the emergence of generative AI, he has been investigating its value for African architecture and the continent’s future development, both from pragmatic and cultural perspectives. His work spans higher education, the built environment disciplines, the creative industries, research, and academia, where he integrates AI to close gaps, unlock capacity, and accelerate problem-solving. Now on a focused drive to advance AI adoption in Africa, Sechaba’s mission is to enable transformative applications of the technology across sectors, ensuring it delivers meaningful, sustainable, and context-driven solutions for the continent’s future.
SANDRA MAAPE
is Head of Psycho-Social Support in the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). With a Master’s in Sociology and Development Studies from Wits, she has spent just under a decade developing transformative programmes that respond to the complex social realities faced by students, particularly those from under-resourced communities. In a field where social development is often overlooked, Sandra has pioneered a model of care, leadership, and industry alignment within the engineering and built environment space. She leads the Faculty’s Industry Readiness Programme, where she partners with leading firms and professionals to deliver workshops, facilitation sessions, and capacity-building interventions that prepare students for life beyond the university, not just as employees, but as thoughtful, community-minded leaders. Her ability to craft high-impact social programmes within a traditionally technical discipline has positioned her as a vital force in reshaping the future of engineering education. At Afreetekture, she brings this same approach, strategic, humane, and future-focused, into the heart of practice.