Born and raised in Cape Town, Christine Walters moved to the city of gold in 1987. Today she one of Mzansi's leading lights. 

Christine Walters, mayoral committee member for corporate and shared services

IF there had been houses in the inner city, councillor Christine Walters would have bought one and would still be living there. 

"I love the inner city. I love the community; I know every inch of the inner city. It's a love you can't shake - I am an urban creature, I will live out my days here," says Walters, the mayoral committee member of corporate and shared services.

As it is, she bought a house in Orange Grove, not far from the city centre. And when she first came to Joburg in 1987 she stayed in a flat on the edge of Joubert Park and later in Hillbrow, where she lived for 12 years - and she loved the lifestyle.

"It was the best flat in Joubert Park. I used to go the Joburg Art Gallery, interact with strangers, write poetry. I worked with abused women, tenants and landlords, and started training trustees to protect their assets."

Walters still visits Hillbrow. "I like going to Twist Street and buying little things."

But her home town, Cape Town, is also an exciting place to live, so what is different about Johannesburg?

"Cape Town is an entrenched apartheid city. In Joburg there is a political determination to integrate people. Whether you're in Sandton or Orange Farm, people speak the same language here," she explains.

But there's another reason. "The churches took a strong stand in Joburg against gangsters, supported by the local government, which allowed them to use stadiums and recreation centres."

Walters is a well-travelled person; she studied in Oxford and lived in Europe and the US as a student, washing dishes and babysitting to earn her way. As a result she has many friends around the world, people she talks of as her "non-biological family".

In her biological family, she has 10 brothers and one sister. Yet she says: "I don't believe in the modern world that your own biological family is necessarily your only family. I have a non-biological family for whom I would die – they are part of my spiritual life."

Bu that doesn't mean she's not close to her real family. "I have a very loving relationship with them, a very good aura with my brothers, who have total respect for me." 

It's when she outlines what she has done in her portfolio over the past eight months that you realise how easy it is to respect this pint-sized, energetic and very focused woman.

Previously the member of the mayoral committee for community development, roads and parks, which included "everything except the kitchen sink", Walters moved into her spacious office after the March local elections, with a large metaphorical broom under her arm.

Then she set about overhauling every element of her portfolio, which she describes as an "all boys club".

Walters decided that the first thing to do was to have an in-depth discussion on where things were going, as the portfolio carried a lot of baggage. "We decided to put everything behind us. We are here as servants of the people; we have a mandate that we have to focus on – it was a spiritual and mature approach."

The idea was to turn around client perceptions of everything done under the auspices of her portfolio in the process of servicing the 217 councillors employed by the City – from South African Revenue Services and pension fund payout benefits in the human resources section, and repairs and maintenance to the City's assets, to access to the City's fleet of vehicles.

"In some cases it would take five to six months for a pension payout to come through because of a wrong number on the form," she says.

Walters wanted to establish her portfolio offices as a centre of excellence. "Previously people were despondent but now we are a real centre of excellence. In the next four years we'll be something great."

The essence of this was to get the different departments working as business units, with business plans that would ensure excellence. This meant centralising functions that would benefit from economies of scale.

"We're aiming for shared services on good business lines, and departments marketing themselves internally," she says.

Walters points to the human resources department, which had a bad reputation previously. It has been turned around after her shake-up, with the establishment of councillors' services, and now has the "high moral ground", even down to checking that departments are fulfilling gender equity requirements.

"I feel confident the system will assist councillors to do their work now," she adds.

It goes down to the small things, like whether offices have flammable walls or not, and what to do about it. Her staff is checking to see that every department complies with the City's fire, safety and health rules. This means that she will put in place eye tests for the City's fire fighters, and check that the City's grass cutters wear protective gear. 

But it hasn't been just about reformist interventions. Walters has given out certificates of achievement and awards where she has felt departments have been quietly getting on with their jobs and serving the City and its residents well.

And where expertise has been recognised, it is shared. Walters' office holds a lot of workshops to share expertise. "We are very happy – we are tapping into people's expertise."

All this is accompanied with absolute modesty. "The last five years have been just phenomenal. I have learned a lot of lessons and gained insight into how councillors work."

Her work ethic and warmth have touched a lot of people. Her staff members have all embarked on further study, influenced by her completion of her Senior Executive Management Certificate through the University of the Witwatersrand and Harvard University in the United States. In 2007 she will study further. 

Walters began her working life as a 16-year-old packer in a Foschini's warehouse in Cape Town in 1967. She went on to do time and motion studies, and it wasn't long before she became involved in the workers' movement, fighting for workers' rights. She was dismissed three times as a result.

She has worked with gangsters, old folk and domestic and office workers. After working in various non-governmental organisations, she joined the banking sector, where she stayed for 15 years, making use of what she studied at Oxford: industrial sociology, economics, labour relations, statistics, international law and political science.

In 1987, back in Cape Town, one of her brothers was murdered. The trauma was a turning point in her life and Walters decided she needed to go somewhere, to be "bold enough to move out of home".

She moved to Joburg. "I really found my politics here".

And more. "There are a lot of comrades whom I love to pieces," she explains.

"I found my spirit here, my love here."