The South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) is exasperated having learnt that Minister Edna Molewa of Water and Environmental Affairs has signed an agreement to pave the way for 34 Cuban engineers to “sort out our water crisis while here for a two-year stint”.
To put the concern into perspective, the TimesLIVE wrote, “Cuba has massive water problems. According to the Canadian International Development Research Centre, its water and sanitation services have deteriorated badly, resulting in an increase in water-borne diseases.”
SAICE believes South Africa has world-class civil engineering professionals in the water sector and asks why the Department of Water Affairs (DWA) should not have launched their, “recruitment drive to find skilled professionals to deal with South Africa’s water problems”, in South Africa.
SAICE is confident that many a civil engineering practitioner, who knows South Africa’s water challenges inside out, would have been available to assist in ‘sorting’ these out.
Dr. Martin van Veelen, 2012 president of SAICE, has stated, “South Africa is blessed with a highly competent and experienced corps of engineering practitioners. It is one of the few countries on the African continent that does not need consultants from Europe or other countries to solve the challenges of a developing country. However, the centre of gravity of the accumulated wisdom lies in an ageing, predominantly white and male group of professionals. This is certainly not politically correct, but it is a fact. The country cannot afford to disregard this boon if the objectives of the National Development Plan (NDP) are to be achieved.”
Manglin Pillay, CEO of SAICE, adds, “Our engineers need to get first choice. We have excellent engineers both locally as well as those who are currently working outside of South Africa, because the political climate is against them. They are too white and it is being perceived more and more that white professionals are unwelcome in 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.”
One cannot blame civil engineering practitioners if they start feeling alienated by the very government that will not be able to answer to the NDP goals without them, as they are essential to any infrastructure development in future. To make matters worse the department’s spokesperson, Themba Khumalo, said that this agreement was one of many to be signed with a number of countries in a bid to deal with the water crisis and contends that the Cubans will play an important role because South African engineers and hydrologists did not want to work in rural areas. Is that perhaps because South African engineers would not be able to live on what they would be paid, and the Cubans can?
Many questions arise, not least of which is the matter of language – the Cubans speak Spanish. Then there is the matter of engineering professionals having to adhere to the standards set by the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA). Are the Cuban engineers exempt from these while South African engineering practitioners are not?
These engineers also have to adapt to performing and living in a democracy, as Cuba is a communist country. Learning the culture and the SA environment is going to be extremely difficult, especially when they have added restrictions of not having family around them.
Pillay says, “Having to face these challenges, overcome them, and to adjust takes at least 18 months. By then, it is almost time to return to Cuba. Because of these challenges, the previous Cuban engineers employed at the DBSA and several government departments in Gauteng, were simply not used on projects and marginalised. Some apparently complained that they played video games and downloaded material from the Internet all day. They were not incorporated into the South African engineering teams.”
SAICE published its first Infrastructure Report Card (IRC) for South Africa in 2006; a second edition was published in 2011. The IRC is a barometer of the status of infrastructure at any given time. In 2006, SAICE met with various infrastructure ministers to share the findings of the report card. In 2011, government departments were also invited to engage on the findings of the 2011 IRC. It was at these events that the challenge of unemployment, lack of systems and structures and the urgent need for capacity at national, provincial and local department levels were discussed.
The National Development Plan, together with President Zuma’s State of the Nation Address and Minister Pravin Gordhan’s Budget Speech, emphasises job creation and infrastructure development. This affords the 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.
Bringing Cuban engineers to South Africa will not solve government’s lack of communication with the civil engineering fraternity to solve the water problems.
These issues could be discussed at the Civilution Congress to be hosted by SAICE from 6 to 8 April 2014, but that may be too late.
Peter Kleynhans, 2013 president of SAICE, remarks, “Above all we must realise that we need one another; one party cannot perform without the other. We must act as a unified team, with one single common goal – a better and more prosperous country for all.”
SAICE is seriously concerned about importing Cuban engineers and implores government, and specifically the Department of Water Affairs, to engage with them to find solutions to these. Let’s stand together and find solutions to our own problems to make a difference.
