Page 5 - index

of Consultants. Government does not have the capacity
and this is particularly poor at Provincial and Local
Government level.

CESA has made a number of proposals to partner with
Government to assist with capacity. CESA member firms
have the skills and the capacity to assist Government
in unlocking infrastructure development. The biggest
issue is that the working environment for engineers in
Government needs to be improved. Properly qualified
and experienced individuals need to be appointed to
critical Government technical posts and their contracts
need to be based on their performance of technical
international and local firms as well as for creating work.
critical mass between smaller firms to enable them to
handle larger projects. CESA proposes that a formula Eradication of Corruption
be developed to enable calculation of consolidated CESA is committed to fighting corruption in procurement
BBBEE scorecards of two or more entities forming a JV. processes and has increased its capacity and ability
to do so by recently creating a litigation fund and also
With projects getting bigger and some taking more than forming partnerships with other corruption fighting
three years to implement from design to construction organisations.
completion, CESA urges Government to review and
align the Municipal Finance Management Act and Basic Education Key for Development
Municipal Systems Act. This will sort out the issue when of Engineers
appointments are made for consulting services for a
Education is another challenge facing the industry.
fixed 3 year term and the project runs over this period.
Basic education is key to the development of
mathematics and science capabilities within the country
CESA is also lobbying to have consulting engineering
forming the foundation required for the development
alongside other built environment professions
of engineers. Teaching must be made to be a career
designated as a local service to receive preference over
of choice and attractive to top achievers by paying
international companies, who do not have a presence
salaries comparable to those of other professions.
in South Africa, when bidding for work. Infrastructure
When looking at investment in a country the level of
needs a cadre of engineers focused not only on
skills that the country has to offer is one of the many
planning, design, tender specification, evaluation and
factors considered.
adjudication but also on maintenance and operation
– localization needs to be looked at carefully as you CESA Ready to Assist Government
cannot create employment and address inequality
CESA fully supports the NDP but implementation is key
unless South African companies are utilized to their
and this is where Government falls short and CESA and
maximum capacity.
its member firms are able to assist. CESA is ready to
Lack of Technical Capacity in Government engage and partner with Government to address these
challenges. CESA has been lobbying Government for
An added challenge is the serious lack of technical
years on these issues and more recently with National
capacity within Government. In order for tender
Treasury who are reviewing procurement regulations
documents to be effective they need to be prepared,
following interaction with them.
and subsequently tenders need to be evaluated, by
competent engineers in Government or a Consulting
CESA strongly contends that the NDP
Engineering Consultant with input from Government’s and its objectives will never materialise
supply chain. Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan,
unless there is involvement of consulting
recently acknowledged that consulting engineers are
key, and the exception, to Government’s ban on the use engineers.

5