<< Continued from page 63
Associations
65
The real solution Pillay points out,“ Skills shortages and capacity issues within the department can be addressed through focused efforts to train and develop young engineers, and utilising local, professionally registered engineers, giving them the same monetary and other benefits as the imported civil engineers, civil technologists, and civil technicians. It is only through appropriate mentorship and supervision that young graduate engineers will be able to register as professionals with ECSA to become experts in their fields eventually.
“ Therefore, the argument that the Italian initiative is an effort to train and develop these young engineers, technicians and technologists within the public sector is highly questionable, especially in view of the fact that they will be employed for only a relatively short time. The involvement of women and youth in projects is already being done, as is evident in the SAICE-SAFCEC Awards given for excellence in community based civil engineering projects, which are changing the lives of people as we speak.”
SAICE, on behalf of the engineering institutions in the country, implores the DWS to rather invest in alternatives that actually address the real problems of skills shortages in the department and country. Pillay states that government should employ local, registered, and experienced senior engineers to avoid another Eskom and Rand Water situation. Pillay concludes,“ South Africa must use local, available expertise!”
Questions by this publication Plumbing Africa asked a few leading industry people for their views on this situation.
It is of concern to us that the DWS avoids answering questions and on the rare occasion that they do, the answers are ambiguous and indirect. For example, when asked about registering Cuban and now Italian engineers with ECSA, they responded by saying that the engineers fit their DWS requirements. Who made the DWS the selector of engineers, irrespective of discipline? We were extremely disappointed at the Engineering Council of South Africa’ s( ECSA) response below, avoiding the matter. When one considers they are responsible to the engineers of this country and not government departments, questions need to be asked.
As a leading publication serving the industry, we support the official bodies when they question government departments and their disregard for the laws of the country.
Here are the replies from our selected participants.
Mike Muller Visiting adjunct professor at the Wits University School of Governance and a former commissioner of the National Planning Commission and director general of Water Affairs SAICE is correctly concerned about ensuring that South Africa makes the best possible use of its available technical skills, both to do the engineering work so desperately required in many areas( including water and sanitation), and to train a new generation of practitioners to work to the same high standards. However, that does not mean that South Africa should turn its back on external expertise. Just as an example, South Africa’ s globally praised water legislation was developed with extensive input from experts ranging from China and Australia to the US and Europe. It was all the better for that. So what matters is not that we have co-operation arrangements with other countries, but how do we use them. So we need to be careful that co-operation is not simply a means for partners to sell their policies, products, and services for their own benefit rather than for ours. There is plenty of evidence, starting in Europe, that rich countries aim to develop their markets by giving aid and assistance. It is a formally stated goal for many European governments. So South Africans must understand that a constructive professional relationship is not the same as a nice dinner with a salesperson. Too often, I fear that we don’ t know the difference.
Helgard Muller( Pr Eng, BSc, BEng, MEng, FSAICE, SFWISA) Specialist consultant: water policy, regulations and institutions The CEO of SAICE raised very valid concerns as reflected in the Business Live interview. One major example is water resources. South Africa has a very erratic rainfall, with frequent droughts. The climate in Europe and Cuba is totally different. The DWAF / DWA / DWS had extensive technical expertise to plan and cope with such droughts. The in-house hydrologists and engineers in DWAF were world leaders in their respective fields and were supported by teams in the private sector. Substantial capacity was lost in government, but it is foolhardy not to use the expertise that does exist in the private sector in the country.
Christopher( Chris) Campbell( Pr Eng) CEO of Consulting Engineers South Africa Consulting Engineers South Africa( CESA) understands the realm of counter trade agreements and the positives that they may bring to our country. The agreement between South Africa and Italy may very well have elements of this; however, it does not bode well for the transformation and capacitation of our own environment when we do this to the detriment of locally available engineering skills and expert practitioners.
We are fully aware of the diminishing capacity at the DWS. To this end, CESA has over the past 12 months repeatedly attempted to secure a meeting with the ministry to confirm our willingness to partner with the ministry in meeting this challenge. We did eventually have the opportunity to meet with a senior official from the department late last year, and we hope to be able to assist them in building the new generation of engineers, technologists, and technicians that they will need in the future. This intervention, however, only addresses the‘ soft skills’ of their technical employees, but we do believe that there is a need for them to re-capacitate in the area where more substantial depth of technical expertise is required for future planning and management.
Continued on page 67 >> www. plumbingafrica. co. za March 2017 Volume 23 I Number 1