The CESA Western Cape Presidential Function was held at the Premier Hotel in Cape Town, on 29 March 2023. 

Welcoming attendees was CESA Western Cape Chairperson Paul Faria, who welcomed the attendees and provided feedback on the branch’s performance. “This is the second in-person Western Cape Presidential event since Covid-19, and I am happy that we have a packed venue this time around.” 

This was followed by the presidential address from CESA President Olu Soluade. He emphasized that in 2023, CESA was delving deeper into actualizing the ‘call to service’ by collaborating for change  and ensuring that members continued to work effectively towards this common goal. “So, in this light, our theme for 2023 is: ‘Make a Difference by Collaborating for Change.’ This is an action theme for us to work and be intentional in our quest to achieve tangible results and in doing so we have many challenges to overcome.”

CESA Young Professionals Forum (YPF) National Chairperson, Renee Petersen, co-presented with Soluade in her capacity as a CESA Board Member. In her presentation, she advocated that young professionals have a responsibility to change the current landscape of the engineering industry. “We continue to focus on enhancing our student outreach footprint. As young professionals we continue to contribute and strive to create positive changes in our industry. I call on all member firms and the public sector to join in, and lets all have a seat at the table.”

The guest speaker at this year’s event was Kadri Nassiep, Executive Director for the Energy Directorate at the City of Cape Town. In his presentation, Nasiep re-iterated that dealing with the country’s load shedding crisis was necessary in order to stimulate economic growth. “We have a vision that we are working towards achieving leading up to the year 2050, however, we have short term goals. For us to get there, we need to stabilize the electricity network in the City of Cape Town,” he stated.

CESA CEO Chris Campbell brought the event to a close by providing feedback and the closing remarks. The event concluded with a networking session and dinner.