The Civil Engineering Contractor June 2019 | Page 3

COMMENT One man’s poison… Eamonn Ryan - editor [email protected] M ore than one contractor has commented to Civil Engineering Contractor that conditions are so bad in the industry that they suspect government is actively trying to destroy the industry. That might be a stretch, but there is ample evidence that government welcomes the failure of what is a growing list of construction contractors (some of which are black-owned and all of which employ a large number of black workers). Speaker after speaker at a recent Construction Education and Training Authority (CETA) SMME Summit could not restrain their glee at what was happening to the industry, all but hurling their caps in the air and chortling with delight. The view was spelled out by chief director, Small Business Development, Nomvula Makgotlho, when she gloated, “We don’t miss the demise of the Big Five [construction firms, including Group 5 and Basil Read] – we see it as an opportunity for SMMEs to replace them. Government sees their demise as no problem.” However, she recognised the inability of SMMEs to qualify to play in the same space as these big firms – in the large infrastructure projects. The problem, she lamented, is that the CIDB (Construction Industry Development Board) grading structure disadvantages SMMEs and must be addressed. “The CIDB [grading system] is one of the biggest challenges faced by SMMEs.” The problem, she noted, is that SMMEs have to get points to qualify for the necessary requirements to tender for certain projects, but they can’t get those points without actually having experience in doing such projects. It is a bit like aspiring workers applying for jobs that require experience – how can they get the experience without the job, and how can they get the job without the experience? “We need to remove these artificial boundaries,” Makgotlho exhorted. Like the education system before it, the desire appears to be to dumb down standards to a level where anyone can participate without having either experience or qualifications to do specific jobs. How SMMEs see this panning out in terms of having the experience and qualified engineers to actually take on the country’s freeways, bridges and highly-engineered projects, was perhaps revealed by a comment by Motheo Construction CEO Dr Thandi Ndlovu who cautioned SMMEs that they should not expect to perform contracts while sitting in a hotel drinking expensive whiskey while employing recently retrenched professionals to do the actual work. Perhaps that is what they actually expect to do? Contempt for people who do the real work is increasingly evident in a society where BEE credentials are regarded as being superior intellectual capital to engineering skills. SMMEs were told they should be trawling through the lists of professionals of construction firms that have either been liquidated or are in business rescue to find suitable experienced people in the process of being retrenched who would be willing to mentor them. There doesn’t seem to be much empathy for the livelihoods of these people or for their families or employees who would be affected by what is a catastrophic event in their lives. They appear to be viewed as mere pawns in the process of transformation of the industry. This view ignores the more likely eventuality – that these highly-skilled and experienced engineers will not supinely assume their diminished role in the industry, but will move to countries where their skills are more highly regarded. And if Chinese or Indian firms need to be appointed (and bring in their own labour) to do the major projects that South Africa will need over the coming years, then so be it, no doubt. And if South Africa and South Africans overall are poorer as a result, is that a price we’re also prepared to pay? Dr Thandi Ndlovu, CEO of Motheo Construction. www.civilsonline.co.za CEC June 2019 | 1