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CONSTRUCTION WORLD
JULY
2017
4
MARKETPLACE
The South African Institution of Civil
Engineering (SAICE) is perturbed that South
African civil engineering practitioners
are once again being ignored in favour of
engineers from abroad.
The Minister reported that the
Programme had led to black engineers
being given opportunity to gain work
experience from the Cuban engineers.
She said local companies and service
providers are often hesitant to support
black engineers, and to provide them with
accreditation. She continued by saying
that, “thanks to the Cuban programme,
black engineers who could previously not
obtain accreditation in the water industry,
have now been accredited”. The first
question that arises is whether the Cuban
technicians and engineers are registered
as professionals with the Engineering
Council of South Africa, a process that
every South African technician, technologist
and engineer have to do in order to obtain
accreditation and being registered as a
professional engineering practitioner.
South Africa has world-class civil
engineering professionals in hydrology
and hydraulics and water engineering in
general. There are many experts such
as Neil Macleod, who received the 2014
Stockholm Industry Water Award for “Most
progressive water utility in Africa” on
behalf of eThekwini Water & Sanitation,
in the Durban Municipality, South
Africa. The utility was awarded for its
transformative and inclusive approach
to providing water and sanitation
services. Manglin Pillay, CEO of SAICE,
states, “Our engineers are world-
renowned and very well
recognised globally, but
we don’t seem to be
having the same favour
here in South Africa!”
Should the DWS have launched their
“recruitment drive to find skilled
professionals to deal with South Africa’s
water problems” in South Africa, with the
same remuneration and incentives, SAICE
is confident that many a civil engineering
practitioner, who knows South Africa’s water
challenges inside out, would have been
available to assist the department in rural
communities, and in national and provincial
infrastructure departments. The money
spent on establishing and accommodating
the Cuban engineers in South Africa, could
possibly be better spent re-looking current
salaries and working environments in these
areas to the benefit of civil engineering
professionals, a number of whom are
unemployed due to the current economic
climate, thereby creating sustainable jobs
within South Africa.
Pillay emphasises, “Our engineers need
to get first choice. We have excellent,
experienced engineers both locally, as well
as those who are currently working outside
of South Africa.
“Government needs to make strides to
attract South African engineers back to
South Africa, and back into our government
sector where they are most needed. If there
is a shortage thereafter, then the whole
world can join us.”
On the issue of deployment and looking
at the above tasks, one could ask how
language would affect efficiency in capacity
building through training of staff – are
these the non-existent technical staff in
rural local authorities? The Cuban engineers
also have to adapt to performing and living
in a democracy, as Cuba is a communist
country. Learning the culture and the South
African environment could prove to be
extremely difficult.
Pillay explains, “Having to face these
challenges, overcome them, and
adjust to them could take at
least 18 months – that out
of a contract period of a few
years. Because of these
challenges, the
Cuban engineers
previously employed at
the Development Bank
of Southern Africa and
several government
departments in
Gauteng, were
simply not used
on projects,
and were
marginalised in
the work environment. Some complained
that they played video games and
downloaded stuff off the internet all day –
they were not incorporated into the South
African engineering teams.” Wasteful, not
only in the context of money lost for South
African engineers, but also for the Cubans,
away from their families and with little
constructive to do.
As SAICE and other voluntary industry
associations have pointed out over the
past five years, there is a serious shortage
of technically qualified managers in all
three tiers of government, which is of great
concern. However, bringing in Spanish-
speaking engineers is not a solution, as
their work spans only a couple of years.
Their presence will also not address the
issue of inappropriately qualified and
inexperienced persons appointed in
technical positions in government.
Pillay furthermore argues, “Importing
Cuban engineers has a possible unintended
cost, i.e. the lack of training and
developmental opportunities for our own
young engineers.
“It appears the weakness in government
structures is the lack of knowledge on how
to identify projects and how to spend the
allocated money. This is evident from the
lack of structures, processes and systems in
government to manage infrastructure spend.
Then there is the cauldron of unsuitably
qualified individuals, ineffectually occupying
technical engineering posts, nervously
managing engineering projects, and
second-guessing the allocation of funds.
It is necessary to re-install appropriately
qualified and professionally registered
technical people back into the system to
plan, identify, procure and manage large-
spend engineering projects.”
The National Development Plan, and the
State of the Nation addresses over the
past years, placed emphasis on job
creation and infrastructure development.
This affords SAICE the opportunity to
engage with government, and to serve as
the honest and non-biased broker for civil
engineering expertise to be installed back
into the system
Pillay concludes, “SAICE is seriously
perturbed about the import of Cuban
engineers and once again implores
government, and specifically the Department
of Water and Sanitation, to further engage
with us (SAICE), to find solutions. Together
we can solve South Africa’s problems.” In
this manner the Minister can avoid shooting
herself in the foot.
MINISTER STICKS
to her guns with Cubans
Replying to a question from the
National Council of Provinces,
Minister of Water and Sanitation,
Nomvula Mokonyane, defended
her department’s decision to
continue employing Cuban
technicians and engineers
to exchange skills within the
department’s Water Programme.
Manglin Pillay, CEO
of SAICE.