In a series of articles and interviews that captured the public’s attention during, CESA CEO Chris Campbell questioned the decision by Government to import engineering skills when we have a current situation where our own local engineering skills in the private sector are under-utilized together with a large pool of unemployed graduates.

In CESA’s Bi-annual Economic and Capacity Survey (BECS) recently released the statistics show that since 2012 the capacity utilization of local engineering skills has dropped from a utilization rate of 95% to the current 80% in the most recent survey.

“This reduction in capacity utilization coupled with the large pool of unemployed graduates begs the question as to why government is importing foreign skills when we already have those skills locally within the private sector?” questions Campbell.

“Employing highly skilled locally experienced engineers supported by unemployed graduates will provide a more sustainable solution” says Campbell. Campbell believes that the 24 Cuban Engineers are not going to make a dent in the capacity challenges that exist at provincial and national levels in the Department of Water and Sanitation. The solution, he believes, is to address this through meaningful public private partnerships.

We acknowledge the important role that Cuba played in our struggle for freedom and the co-operation agreement which started as far back as 2001, between our two countries in respect of Water Resources Management, Water Supply and Sanitation, Campbell avers. “South Africa is ironically known for its own engineering skills globally and with our water resource management scope substantially larger than that of Cuba, this appears to be an ongoing and fruitless exercise in skills exchange at the expense of our own unemployed engineers”.

It therefore then also begs the question why so little has been done to leverage our local expertise and grow our own future capacity over the last 20 years.

A sustainable partnership between Government and the Private Sector on engineering capacity development has been on offer by the Private Sector over the past 10 years which sadly, for reasons unknown to us, has not been adequately embraced by the Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Human Settlements. Campbell though, in conclusion, confirms that the offer has never had an expiration date.

Herewith all of the coverage:
Engineering News – 21 April 2021
Cesa calls for more PPPs as local engineering capacity use drops to 80%
Industry association CESA has questioned the Department of Water and Sanitation's decision to bring in 24 Cuban engineers, while the capacity utilisation of local engineering skills has dropped to 80% in the most recent BECS survey.
Read More

The Witness – 22 April 2021
Decision to bring in Cuban engineers to South Africa slammed
Engineers have slammed government’s decision to bring in 24 Cuban nationals to improve the country’s water and sanitation infrastructure when it should be employing skilled and experienced South Africans.
Read More

eNCA – 23 April 2021
Jobs emergency | SA engineers question governments decision to hire Cuban engineers
Chris Campbell, CEO of Consulting Engineers South Africa, spoke with eNCA's Tumelo Mothotoane. Courtesy of #DStv403
Watch

TimesLive – 23 April 2021
SA teams not keen on rural areas, says Lindiwe Sisulu
Consulting Engineers SA CEO Chris Campbell said existing SA engineering skills in the private sector are underutilised and there is a large pool of unemployed graduates. “Employing highly skilled locally experienced engineers, supported by unemployed graduates, will provide a more sustainable solution,” he said.
Read More

Sowetan Live – 23 April 2021
Cuban engineers here to impart skills, SA teams not keen on rural areas, says Lindiwe Sisulu
Consulting Engineers SA CEO Chris Campbell said existing SA engineering skills in the private sector are underutilised and there is a large pool of unemployed graduates.
Read More

Inside Politics -  24 April 2021
Cuban Engineers Deployed To Impart Skills In Rural South Africa – Lindiwe Sisulu
Local South African engineering skills in the private sector were underutilised, and there was a large pool of unemployed graduates in the country, Consulting Engineers South Africa chief executive Chris Campbell said.
Read More

Newzroom Afrika – 26 April 2021
Engineering bodies have condemned government's move to bring in 24 Cuban engineers
Some engineering bodies have condemned government's move to bring in 24 Cuban engineers to assist with water infrastructure issues. CESA says that local engineering skills in the private sector are under-utilised together with a large pool of unemployed graduates.
Watch

Daily Maverick - 27 April 2021.
 We must interrogate the manufactured controversy over Cuban engineers coming to South Africa.
Most notable among the reports has been one carried by News24 under the headline, “Decision to bring in Cuban engineers to South Africa slammed”, quoting CESA and political voices such as the Democratic Alliance and Herman Mashaba.
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Mail & Guardian -  28 May 2021
Water dept defends deployment of Cuban engineers in reply to Solidarity court application
In April, the Consulting Engineers of South Africa (Cesa) published a statement saying that “since 2012 the capacity utilization of local engineering skills has dropped from a utilization rate of 95% to the current 80% in the most recent survey”.
Read More

The Citizen – 28 April 2021
MKMVA defends Sisulu for Cuban engineers deployment, blames WMC
The association has since singled out Consulting Engineers of South Africa (CESA) CEO Chris Campbell who weighed in on the matter. “CESA is disingenuous in their attack because when Eskom brought 40 white engineers from Germany to assist with countering load shedding they did not whisper as much as a word of complaint,” said MKMVA spokesperson Carl Niehaus.
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Financial Mail – 29 April 2021
ROB ROSE: Lindiwe Sisulu’s Cuba farce
That’s just nonsense, says Chris Campbell, the CEO of the industry association, the Consulting Engineers of SA (Cesa). "It’s just so far from the truth, and it shows she didn’t do her homework. It comes down to how dismissive the government is of its own people — how dare they be so dismissive about our local engineers."
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