OPINION
Collaboration in the engineering sector is vital for achieving South Africa’s national agenda
I
t has been almost a year since President Cyril Ramaphosa announced South Africa’s Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan, with a key objective being to create jobs, primarily through aggressive infrastructure investment. However, little progress has been made despite many industry bodies putting their hands up to aid with state capacity. Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu recently called on engineers to “patriotically contribute” to the development agenda of South Africa. This was part of her keynote address at a virtual seminar hosted by the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) in June, and has reaffirmed — for me, and for Consulting Engineers South Africa (CESA) — the importance of our industry bodies and associations raising our hands and offering partnerships with our government. But, before we raise our hands, perhaps we should be joining our hands. The South African engineering profession is home to countless industry bodies, associations, institutes, and authorities which have somewhat segregated us, causing disintegration. Between CESA, ECSA, SAICE, SABTACO, BBCBE, NSBE, SAIEE (and the list of acronyms goes on), South African engineers are operating in silos — something we have oft-criticised of government departments. The South African engineering sector should rather make efforts to present a united front, putting aside our differences and collaborating towards improved service delivery, economic development and transformation.
Author: Chris Campbell ,Chief Executive of Consulting Engineers South Africa
14
September-October issue l 2021
This may be more appealing to young engineers too, who are faced with a plethora of organisations to join when starting their career. Under one banner, we could focus on pooling our efforts and put aside any differences between our respective organisations in the relentless race to be heard first and recognised most. Together, we are capable of providing innovative solutions in support of the
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