The panel discussion on the National Infrastructure Plan 2050 was one of the most eagerly anticipated sessions at the Sustainable Infrastructure Development Symposium – South Africa (SIDS-SA) on Thursday, 7 October. The President of South Africa, Mr Cyril Ramaphosa, was the convener of the event, which included government ministers, large asset owners, leading private investors and fund managers, MDBs, developers, technology innovators, key advisors and more. The event aimed to facilitate alignment with the objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and South Africa’s National Development Plan (NDP), as well as to ensure access to greater and economical sources of sustainable funding.

Previous Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation, Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, recently called on engineers to “patriotically contribute” to the development agenda of South Africa. This was part of her keynote address at a virtual seminar hosted by the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) in June, and has reaffirmed – for me, and for Consulting Engineers South Africa (CESA) – the importance of our industry bodies and associations raising our hands and offering partnerships with our government.

It is widely reported that the South African government faces ongoing challenges in regards to meeting the needs of its people through quality public infrastructure. Considering our mounting socioeconomic and environmental concerns, it has become the norm to be critical of our government’s progress – or lack thereof, as many may say. However, with our challenges comes a great opportunity for change and I would argue that the change is coming. It is now time for us to be supportive and engaging, rather than giving in to today’s negative knee-jerk reaction. Government-bashing is not constructive.

The first day of the annual CESA Infrastructure Indaba was held on the 28th September, under the theme “Engineering the future now”. Held for the first time as a virtual event, the online platform boasted networking opportunities and discussions which were highly engaging in the midst of South Africa’s turbulent construction landscape.

Day 2 of the CESA Annual Infrastructure Indaba kicked off with discussions centering largely on transformation and development. Refilwe Lesufi, Prana Consulting Director & CESA Board Member opened the discussion with a focus on the progress of transformation in the public and private sectors. She congratulated government on making headway in representing diversity in their ranks. “However, the private sector is not following suit. Top management and c-suite positions are still largely dominated by men – with 77%.” She emphasised the importance of addressing transformation through tailored approaches that ensure a diverse talent pipeline prepared to fill engineering industry skills gaps.

We are honoured to have been crowned winners in the Strategic Programme category at the 2021 FIDIC Member Association Excellence Awards for our ‘Protecting Lives and Livelihoods’ campaign. We would like to thank everyone involved in making this campaign such an incredible success. Once again South Africa is punching way above our weight against the many countries that are members of the International Federation of Consulting Engineers from across the world. FIDIC currently has 102 Member Associations, which represent over one million engineering professionals and 40,000 firms globally.

Consulting engineers play a big role in protecting lives and livelihoods in South Africa. Listen to Amelia Visagie and discover how CESA member company Zutari is working on projects empowering communities.

The CESA Protecting Lives and Livelihoods campaign is aimed at educating the general public on the impact that consulting engineers have on their daily lives. The campaign is aimed at the public and is currently being run across different platforms. CESA was declared winner in the Strategic Programme category at the 2021 FIDIC Member Association Excellence Awards for the ‘Protecting Lives and Livelihoods’ campaign.

This year, the CESA Aon Engineering Excellence Awards, will once again, be hosted virtually on Wednesday, 10 November. CESA is hosting this annual event with the support of Aon South Africa, a strategic partner and platinum title sponsor of the event for the past 22 years. The CESA Aon Engineering Excellence Awards provide a platform to showcase the important role that infrastructure plays in the sustainable development and delivery of basic services to society.

The dismal performance of municipalities in infrastructure and service delivery in South Africa can be attributed to the lack of technical capacity and competency in municipalities, says association Consulting Engineers South Africa CEO Chris Campbell.

The third webinar in the CESA Practice Notes series was held on 22 September, and it was an event characterized by insightful topics from our speakers and great engagement with attendees via the online platform. Introducing speakers and welcoming guests was Wally Mayne, CESA contractual affairs manager. The first speaker of the day was Dave Clark, past chairperson of the CESA Eastern Cape – Border Kei Branch, who shared insight on the topic ‘Our clients - are you their trusted advisor and partner’? In his discussion, Clark provided attendees with helpful knowledge on becoming a great asset for your clients.

In a special Business Day TV (BDTV) programme held during Women’s Month, a panel of influential women collaborated and discussed a critical issue of how to engage more females in Africa to explore STEM-related professions, which is critical to feeding the pipeline of future engineers.

Women in the consulting engineering profession were honoured by CESA during Women’s Month, which is celebrated in August. Professionals from our member firms were featured in a social media campaign and video interviews were also conducted and posted on our YouTube channel CE-tv.

The new format of virtual CESA Branch Presidential Webinars has resulted in more people joining in from different branches as they discover what’s happening in other parts of the country. Attendees contribute greatly to the development of an inclusive holistic “way forward” for the implementation of the economic reconstruction and recovery plan through the provision of services infrastructure.

If you are serious about a career in consulting engineering, then you should enrol for the CESA Business of Consulting Engineering (BCE) Development Programme. Likewise, if you are an employer of consulting engineers, you should be sending key staff members on the programme. Better still, consider attending yourself!

For the second year running, the CESA Young Professionals Forum hosted its annual CESA YP Imbizo on a virtual platform. The YP Imbizo provides a unique and dynamic platform for built environment and engineering young professionals (YPs) in the public and private sectors to discuss pertinent issues relating to all aspects of delivery and maintenance of infrastructure and engineering projects. It also seeks to establish and maintain structures for YPs to become role models for school learners as well as providing coaching and mentoring opportunities for YPs from senior infrastructure professionals.

The Business of Consulting Engineering (BCE) Development Programme offered by the CESA School of Consulting Engineering (SCE) has seen over 150 professionals attend and successfully complete this important programme.