Senior professional civil engineers in local government have progressively been replaced by young graduate technicians and technologists who are not being properly mentored to gain the experience necessary to perform the work, says SA Institution of Civil Engineering (Saice) president Steven Kaplan.
The lack of professional civil engineers, technologists and technicians, Kaplan said in an interview, is apparent in the lack of infrastructural development and maintenance work in municipalities, whether it be in water and sewage treatment plants, reticulation systems or roads. The lack of clean water in Hammanskraal, which lead to a cholera outbreak, is just the most recent example of a lack of expertise in the proper planning, maintenance and renewal of infrastructure.
Many professional civil engineers have left local government due to retirement, to join the private sector or to emigrate overseas with frustration at the way municipal councils function and fail to properly plan and budget for infrastructure probably a contributing cause.
Civil engineers have obtained bachelor of science (civil engineering) degrees after four-year university degrees, followed by at least three years of relevant experience before professional registration with the Engineering Council of SA. Technicians and technologists graduate from universities of technology after a three-year course and similarly they can be professionally registered with the council when they can demonstrate that they have the required experience.
Kaplan said there were adequate numbers of all categories of graduates being produced by SA academic institutions. There is, however, a shortage of experienced professionals.
Mentoring is critical for those graduate technicians and technologists fresh out of universities of technology working in local government, to gain the necessary experience, Kaplan says, adding that with proper mentoring they would have sufficient skills to undertake civil engineering work at municipal level.
Tsekiso Machike, spokesperson for the minister of co-operative governance & traditional affairs Thembi Nkadimeng, said the observation of the lack of qualified civil engineers in local government is correct.
“The Municipal Finance Management Act reports by the auditor-general refer to inadequate municipal capacity to manage infrastructure. The assessments conducted by the department also confirm the shortage of capacity for municipal infrastructure management,” Machike said.
“The fact that there is an increase in the number of young black technicians in local government is an indication that government is gradually redressing the imbalances of the past through various programmes that are aimed at empowering the youth and creating a new cohort of technical experts for local government.
“These programmes are turning the tide in terms of producing and attracting qualified youths into local government, as technical experts responsible for engineering work.”
Machike noted that SA does not necessarily have a serious shortage of civil engineers, but the challenge is in their attraction to, and retention in, local government, with those produced in government programmes being poached by the private sector.
“Though there are several qualified civil engineers in local government, very few of them are professionally registered. This is concerning since it limits their ability to engage in professional work such as designs and providing expert technical advice. Their engagement with consulting engineers and technical documents is also limited. This can be addressed by supporting qualified municipal officials to register as professionals through the relevant statutory body, the Engineering Council of SA.”
Machike said the lack of qualified engineers had serious implications for service delivery as municipalities would not have the capacity to plan, implement and deliver infrastructure necessary for service delivery. And where there is infrastructure, this may result in unreliable services and dysfunctional assets. Consequently, municipalities hired or outsourced professional engineering work to engineering consultants at much cost, which was unsustainable.
Machike said the department is concerned about this situation. Through the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (Misa) the department deploys built environment practitioners including experienced professional engineers to municipalities to provide technical support for infrastructure development and service delivery.
“To date Misa has deployed 103 built environment practitioners, out of which 86 are professionally registered. Misa also provides courses to municipal officials in technical departments to ensure continuous professional development. Misa is piloting the creation of design office in OR Tambo district municipality aimed at building internal design capacity for municipalities to reduce reliance on engineering consultants. The intention is roll out the design office countrywide from the next financial year.”
South African Local Government Association (Salga) spokesperson Sivuyile Mbambato stressed that all three spheres of government faced skills challenges.
“In our assessment at the local level we have identified a three-pronged skills challenge for municipalities seeking engineers: the inability to attract, afford and retain these professionals.”
ensorl@businesslive.co.za
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