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CONSTRUCTION WORLD
MARCH
2017
4
MARKETPLACE
This is a critical theme in the light of the many obstacles the
country is facing more than 20 years after democracy, despite
significant strides made by government to transform society, CESA
President, Lynne Pretorius, told members of the media at a function,
in Rosebank.
“Consulting engineering is experiencing similar challenges.
Broad-based black economic empowerment (BBBEE) policies also
gave rise to ‘fronting’, and questions are being raised about the
effectiveness of the BBBEE scorecard in realising transformation,”
cautioned Pretorius.
Change driver
This presidential theme for the year is being driven by CESA’s
Transformation Committee, which comprises of members from both
established and emerging firms.
The committee will promote transformation as an ethical
business practice and monitor progress made by its members
beyond the requirements of the Construction Sector Scorecard.
In addition, it will help members understand that transformation
is an ongoing process; facilitate sustainable BBBEE practices
within the industry; and promote the practice through member’s
professional and business activities, among others. Pretorius noted
that this intervention is essential considering that black ownership is
still low at all levels of the industry.
“An overall assessment of employment by race indicates that the
percentage of black employment has varied between 40% and 50%
since 2007. There has also been no notable increase in black staff
within CESA membership over the past four years,” she said.
Of the 533 firms on CESA’s current database, only 122 firms are
black-owned, with this ownership less than 51%, at present.
Women in the minority
Meanwhile, the percentage of women engineering staff employed by
CESA members is between four and six percent of total consulting
engineering professionals, and black women make up about 12% of
this group.
Transformation of the consulting engineering profession is also
being hindered by the limited number of learners competent in
mathematics leaving the school system, while the industry has to
compete with other sectors to attract talent from this small pool to
engineering degree programmes.
She says the status quo has been extremely damaging to the
profession, with these unconvincing statistics further eroding the
credibility of the sector.
“Typical statements made in the country refer to ‘engineers being
old white males’ and that ‘consulting engineering firms are only
interested in making money’,” noted Pretorius.
CESA’s interventions to drive real and sustainable transformation
will include developing a pipeline of engineering professionals over
the long term by identifying and then supporting learners with a
technical aptitude at secondary school level.
It will also consolidate efforts to create and implement a process
for supporting tertiary engineering students and mentor graduate
engineering staff in the workplace to develop their skills and
competencies required for professional registration.
CESA takes action
Meanwhile, the association has identified a host of potential support
programmes for small, medium and micro enterprises, which
constitute about 95% of CESA’s existing membership.
Of this grouping, only 24% are black-owned with black ownership
greater than 51%.
Pretorius said CESA is also offering to
partner with government departments
to second young engineering staff in the
public sector to member firms where they
will gain critical experience.
It will also develop awareness
programmes to combat the barrier
faced by women in the industry in order
to attain a win-win situation for both
employers and employees in our sector.
“Importantly, the thorough detailing
of BBBEE in annual declarations of
members firms submitted to CESA will
definitely bolster this transformation
agenda, as we will for the first time
be able to measure and monitor
transformation in our industry at a
detailed level over overtime as opposed
to being reliant on BBBEE scorecards,
which are not always a true reflection
of the demographic profile of our
industry.”
Driving constructive and
SUSTAINABLE TRANSFORMATION
This year will see Consulting Engineers South Africa
(CESA) take the lead in transforming its membership
and industry.
CESA’s Christopher Campbell (CEO) and
Lynne Pretorius (president).