Africa Surveyors September- October Digital issue 2021

OPINION
Collaboration in the engineering
sector is vital for achieving South
Africa’s national agenda
It 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
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
14 September-October issue l 2021 www.africasurveyorsonline.com