PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
2022 President’s Address
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s my term as IMESA President rapidly comes to an end, I am reminded that one of my key mandates was to motivate for ethics to be made a compulsory part of the CPD cycle for registration with the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA), by requiring registered practitioners to attend an ethics presentation annually during their five-year registration cycle. I have presented the concept to ECSA and will continue to work for this as I firmly believe that engineers’ adherence to ethics is crucial to move forward with any success, especially in our municipal environment. Both civil and municipal engineers must stand together in ensuring that we live up to the Code of Conduct for Registered Persons in terms of the Engineering Professions Act (Act No. 46 of 2000). From IMESA’s perspective, our role is to assist and empower our members and to work within the three spheres of government to make municipal engineering processes and projects more efficient and effective. This is crucial for the successful implementation of South Africa’s economic reconstruction and recovery plan, and the revitalisation of our construction industry. The disastrous floods earlier this year in KwaZulu-Natal highlighted this priority. In terms of current and future spatial planning, we need more advanced research on extreme weather predictions along the lines of those countries that need to design and build for potential seismic activity in earthquake zones. Not easy, of course, given the extensive unpredictability of climate change impacts. But with the information we do have available, we can certainly construct far more robust structures. As municipal engineers, we also need to urgently address the pressing issue of informal settlements within our towns and cities. These settlements occur wherever open land is available, irrespective of whether its above or below a known floodplain. It’s a potential disaster waiting to happen and can and should be prevented. Of equal importance is the regular updating of municipal asset management registers, with examples including transportation infrastructure and water/ sanitation networks. Preventative and predictive maintenance is a key factor in ensuring the current and future sustainability of the municipal landscape. IMESA Projects With Covid-19 restrictions now repealed completely, we can restart our training programme. IMESA technical courses are being planned for 2023 and the details will be shared with members as soon as the schedule is confirmed.
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IMESA
The Small Coastal Storm Water Outlets guidelines can be downloaded from the knowledge base library on the IMESA website under Stormwater. Guidance for local authorities regarding reclamation and reuse of water was identified as a priority in 2019 and IMESA was called on to support the development of guidelines in a project sponsored equally by the Water Research Council (WRC) and IMESA. We are proud to announce that the Water Reclamation and Reuse Guide for South African Municipal Engineers was completed this year, and the final document was launched by the WRC on 1 September 2022. The guideline can be downloaded under Water in our knowledge base library. IMESA will present training workshops based on these guidelines, starting with a pre-conference workshop in Johannesburg on 1 November 2022 and then rolling out to Cape Town, Durban, Gqeberha and George in 2023. The development of a best practice guideline for Design Flood Estimation in Municipal Areas in South Africa was also identified as a critical aspect for municipalities. This was initiated as a project by IMESA and co-funded by the WRC. The project has made good progress, and the guideline will be showcased at the Knowledge Bar at the 2022 IMESA Conference.
Strategic Liaisons Engagements with external bodies were limited last year but IMESA has had valuable interactions with National Treasury, ECSA, SALGA, CESA, SAICE, the WRC and others this year. Civil Engineers South Africa (CESA) – The Excellence Awards presented jointly by CESA and IMESA every second year could not be held in 2020 but submissions were called for and evaluated in 2021, with the winners being announced and presented at a special awards ceremony held in Cape Town in November 2021. A Memorandum of Understanding between IMESA and CESA was signed this year and we look forward to more interaction that benefits all our members. Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) – A full audit by ECSA of IMESA as a CPD-licensed body took place in July 2022. IMESA was commended for following the required protocols for the verification of CPD service providers and the accreditation of CPD activities. Further interaction will take place to ensure that IMESA keeps up to date on all relevant legislation and requirements. At a meeting held in January 2022 with Mr Cox Mokgoro, acting CEO of ECSA, I explained my vision of ethics being made a compulsory component of CPD for engineers as an extension of the ECSA Code of Conduct. South African Forum for Engineering (SAFE) – Several meetings have been held this year. The forum will continue as intended in its original MoU, as it is proving to be a valuable opportunity for professional bodies
