Every year, the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) releases its State of the World Infrastructure Report. Every year, I find this report interesting and enlightening – and this year was no different. While South Africa faces many unique challenges in our consulting engineering industry, the report shows annually that in many challenges, we are not alone.

CESA President, Sugen Pillay, presented his presidential message and theme for the year at a virtual event in February attended by media, CESA members, and infrastructure stakeholders from around South Africa. Pillay revealed his 2021 theme as ‘Rebuilding with Purpose’.

Our President Sugen Pillay was interviewed by e.tv where he discussed some of the key takeaways at the CESA Presidential Address and Debate held Wednesday, 3 February 2021.

Ahead of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) that took place on 11 February, CESA CEO Chris Campbell said there could be no doubt about the key deliverables which should be a national priority in the coming months. “An efficient and effective Covid-19 vaccine roll-out must be the focus for South Africa in 2021. No sector will be able to truly thrive until we have achieved what is necessary to vanquish the virus,” he said.

CESA CEO Chris Campbell is questioning 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.

During March CESA hosted the third instalment of the Protecting Lives and Livelihoods webinar series. The series aims to highlight the importance of quality infrastructure for South Africa’s social and economic development. Panellists discussed whether professionalising the state would lead to improved service delivery, and what value the private sector could add.

We are pleased to announce the completion of the revision of our Practice Notes. They can be found on our websitehttps://www.cesa.co.za/practice-notes/. Kindly note the Practice Notes are reserved for members only, hence requiring a member user name and password, which can be obtained by emailing:gillian@cesa.co.za.

The results of CESA Bi-annual Economic and Capacity Survey for the period July to December 2020 were recently released. An analysis of questionnaires completed by active firms in the consulting engineering profession provides a proxy for current and expected working conditions for the profession, which can be measured and benchmarked on a regular basis.

Thursday, 4 March markeds World Engineering Day in 2021, an occasion befitting to host the 2nd CESA Innovation and Technology Webinar. This installment included speakers from various stakeholders including Rene Van Schalkwyk, Aon South Africa Business Unit Head for Claims; MPAMOT Technical Principal, Mike Aldous; CSIR Smart Mobility Research and Development Engineer, Imraan Akhalwaya; and Knight Piesold Southern Africa Engineer and CESA Technology and Engineering Innovation Forum chairperson, Neelam Parbhoo.

On Thursday, 18 March, Consulting Engineers South Africa (CESA) hosted the CESA ACSA Aviation Webinar. Speakers included Kesavan Naicker, Group Manager in the Enterprise Project Management office at Airports Company South Africa (ACSA); Malcolm Koopman, ACSA Senior Specialist for Technical Solutions; and CESA CEO Chris Campbell.

It is well understood that people across South Africa continue to live without basic necessities such as running water and electricity, due to the ongoing failure of infrastructure provision. While many projects lie in the pipeline, they remain dormant as the state fails to execute on promises made. However, with projects approved and budget allocated, it appears that the bottleneck is not necessarily in funding. While government’s pocket is indeed tight, there are other factors at play which are preventing planned projects from going ahead.

During the month of April, Consulting Engineers South Africa (CESA) hosted two presidential webinars which featured distinguished speakers representing stakeholders. The first event was the CESA North West Presidential Webinar on Friday, 14 April. Speakers at the webinar included South Africa Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) provincial manager, Osmond Mngomezulu; CESA North West Branch chairperson, Booi Dandashe; North West Development Corporation (NWDC) acting projects executive, Moagi Mahapa; and CESA president Sugen Pillay.

Numerous stories of unscrupulous training provider behaviour have emerged against a struggling economy. There is everything from call centres selling courses that do not exist to a one-man training provider who has a few years’ experience in a particular subject and a Zoom package.

Ransomware is, by multiple measures, the top cyber threat facing businesses today, with damages caused including downtime costs and recovery time. Current incident statistics are sobering.