Rabia Mayet | rabiamayet@radioislam.co.za

17 July 2025

3-minute read

After an exceptional 38-year career of dedicated service to the eThekwini Municipality, Hoosen Moolla continues to make a profound impact far beyond his professional life. After retiring as Senior Manager, Moolla has seamlessly transitioned his energy into faith-based, social, and humanitarian work. From local civic initiatives in Isipingo to global humanitarian missions, Moolla’s aspirations to serve deen and humanity have far-reaching impact.

Born in Glendale in KZN into an extremely poor community where his father worked in the sugar mill, Moolla was destined for greater things. The Moolla family was always involved in both masjid and community work and Hoosen was no stranger to political activism with his father hosting Chief Luthuli in the ‘60’s “when he was on the run”. “We always wanted to fight for justice in our early life,” Moolla stated, citing his own suspension from school for activism.

Hoosen’s dad started a business in the Midlands and young Hoosen was sent first to his grandmother and then to his uncle to get a good schooling education. Losing his father at the tender age of 15, Hoosen relied on the support system of family members. After matriculating, he attended the Durban University of Technology and qualified as an environmental health practitioner and then completed a Bachelor of Technology degree in environmental health.

Hoosen joined his brother in the business for a while then from 1987, he worked for the eThekwini municipality during the apartheid era. Alongside the Jamiatul Ulama KZN and the municipality, Hoosen facilitated Muslim burials and managed to get exemptions for the by-laws allowing burials to take place and getting the certificates of acceptability so that the community would not have to “go through the rigmarole” of getting burial orders. Moolla also dealt with matters of land allocated for masaajid and community projects. Passionate about humanitarian work, Moolla is involved with the Al-Imdaad Foundation, contributing to relief and development projects in Turkey, Jordan, and other countries.

Hoosen progressed from environmental health to area-based management within the municipality where he headed up i-Trump IBM – the Inner eThekwini Regeneration Urban Management Programme to fastrack service delivery and deal with hijacked buildings within the city of 13 wards.

Moolla advocates for the youth need to diversify and get involved in government so that they can make changes from within the system and influence through their connections. In sectors like engineering, electrical and social development, “one can make huge changes,” says Hoosen, believing that we are “here to serve the ummah as a whole.”

It’s easy to “get involved in corruption,” Hoosen says, but if you don’t compromise your deen and “have Ikhlaas and sincerity in all that you do,” you will be successful. His integrity and work ethic did not allow him to take a single day’s sick leave in the 38 years he served the municipality. Although he is retired from his day job, Moolla currently serves as Chairman and Trustee of the Isipingo Beach Muslim Association, overseeing the Isipingo Beach Masjid, maktab, and preschool.

Life is not only about enriching ourselves, says Hoosen, but about “how we can benefit the ummah,” without “embarrassing the deen of Islam.” Hoosen Moolla calls working towards the Akhirah “offshore investments,” and his parting advice was to “continue serving till the last breath.”

Listen to the full interview with Hoosen Moolla here.