Zulch Lötter, Graham Pirie and Naren Bhojaram

Newly appointed President of CESA Zulch Lötter, presented his presidential message and theme for the year at a media function recently held in Johannesburg.   Lötter addressed the state of our country’s infrastructure, detailing the four ‘burning bridges’; Government’s ability to deliver on the short and long term needs of South Africa and its people - ‘the four dilemma’s’; and CESA’s partnership and advocacy approach to government as per the Dinokeng Scenarios.  He also discussed both international and local industry value systems and listed CESA’s Strategic Goals for 2010/11 that include advocacy, integrity, facilitation and capacity building.  He strongly believes that CESA and its member firms are our country’s crucial, valuable and indispensible resource.

Lötter stated that the short term (six month) outlook for many of CESA member firms remains positive. When trying to take a longer term view though, the picture for the industry is more uncertain and less positive than a year ago.
 
During 2009 Old Mutual and Nedbank sponsored a scenario process under the chairmanship of Dr. Mamphele Ramphele. This group of 34 opinion formers from various walks of life looked at the South Africa (Pty) Ltd of today and developed three probable future scenarios for our country termed the ‘Dinokeng’ scenarios and in creating these the team “diagnosed” the four dilemmas of  South Africa  2010 which he quoted as:

• We failed to appreciate and understand how to run a modern democracy
• Leadership across all sectors is increasingly self-interested, unethical and unaccountable, lacking clarity and purpose.
• Weak state with declining capacity
• Disengaged citizenry with growing dependence on the state to provide everything

Lötter stated that when Dr. Ramphele was asked what she would regard as the single biggest requirement necessary to rectify these deficiencies, she replied that there are 3 attributes required namely leadership, leadership and leadership.  Lötter believes that, “Not only the future of the citizenry of South Africa in general, but the future business environment of the private sector and our industry in particular, will be determined by how these dilemmas are addressed by ALL of us.”  Against this background he went on to share CESA’s strategy and actions for the year(s) ahead.

CESA and its members focus on the infrastructure development and maintenance needs of society. These needs by and large revolve around four main areas namely water and sanitation; energy; transportation; and accommodation both residential and commercial. Lötter states that in order to successfully manage the development and maintenance of infrastructure in these fields, three main ingredients are required namely experienced human resources, financial resources and natural resources. CESA’s primary focus includes advocacy; capacity building; and consultation and monitoring in order to develop and support their members, clients and decision makers to take responsible decisions with respect to the application of financial and natural resources.

Dinokeng identified that the current “condition of South Africa” of self interest; operating in silos; and “walking apart” as unsustainable. The alternative where government takes the lead and initiative in all matters with the rest of us only following, the “walking behind” scenario is equally unsustainable. CESA fully endorses the preferred Dinokeng Scenario of “Walking Together” and playing an active part in building a well run South Africa and Lötter is confident that CESA is well aligned with this scenario.

As far as ‘burning bridges’ are concerned Lötter believes that, “The lack of technical management capacity, particularly in the municipal and provincial government spheres is common knowledge and unless redressed, is likely to be the single biggest stumbling block to sustainable development and growth in our country.” Based on the information collected in 2005 by Alison Lawless, and adjusted to reflect the situation in 2010, it is estimated that the number of professionally registered engineers employed by government, in all tiers, has reduced from 5 100 serving 14 million people (outside the “homelands”) to an estimated 1 800 serving approximately 47 million people in the whole of RSA today. In 1980, 40% of professional engineers worked in the public sector.  This percentage had dropped to 15% by 2005.  In the same period the number of professional engineers in the consulting industry had increased from 30% to almost 50%.

The first ‘burning bridge’ is that of Water and Sanitation and Lötter states that water demand in SA as a whole will exceed supply by 2025 and that on the Witwatersrand shortages are expected as soon as 2013.  He believes that a comprehensive set of measures is needed to strengthen water services management systems in municipalities and that responsibility must be shared by citizens as well as government. The second burning bridge is that of Transportation and although we have a well maintained national road network our provincial and municipal roads require drastic action.  The third bridge that of Energy needs no introduction and has taken centre stage for quite some time. Lastly rapid urbanisation will pose both big opportunities as well as big challenges.
 
As far as financial resources are concerned, Lötter states that although very substantial capital investment has been earmarked for infrastructure development and maintenance due to the increasing budget deficit uncertainty exists.  He believes that the only way that government will be able to achieve its goals is via additional public debt.

Lötter states passionately that, “CESA’s strategy and actions are aimed at enhancing the business environment for its members; it is not a short term approach. CESA, our Council and leading practitioners have an “unselfish” passion to ensure the long term sustainability of our country.  The well staffed full time directorate of CESA is a hive of activity providing guidance, training and support to clients and members on daily basis.”

He concludes by stating, “The basic needs in people’s lives are provided by engineers.  The private sector and government need each other; government on its own cannot restore the burning bridges; neither can we.  The consulting engineering fraternity needs to be nurtured – it is a national asset.

Zulch Lötter, President of CESA is currently in the process of visiting all of the Organisation’s nationwide branches to present his message for the year.

BORDER/KEI PRESIDENTIAL VISIT

Ngqura Harbour

SOUTHERN CAPE PRESIDENTIAL VISIT

On the 4 March 2010, Zulch Lötter paid a visit to the Southern Cape Branch. During the morning, committee members of the local branch arranged visits to two prominent road works projects in the area, namely the recently completed Hope Street intersection and the Witfontein Road traffic circles.

This was followed by a meeting with the George Municipality’s Municipal Manager and the Managers of the Civil Engineering and Electro technical Engineering Departments. After lunch the President of CESA had the privilege of viewing the Destiny Africa model and what is envisaged to happen in this prestigious project in George.

This was then followed by a visit to the emergency water project at the Outeniqua Wastewater Treatment Works where waste water will be purified and pumped back to the Garden Route Dam. This process is in accordance with international practice known as indirect reuse of waste water. This project was scheduled for implementation around 2020, but the severe drought has brought the project forward by approximately 10 years.

The highlight of the Presidential Visit was a joint CESA/ SAICE evening function at the Hyatt Regency Oubaai Hotel. This afforded the President the opportunity to present his vision for CESA during his tenure as President to member firms.

Consulting Engineers South Africa’s (CESA) strategic intent is to identify major infrastructural issues in the country and to work together with local, provincial and national authorities as well as industry bodies to resolve them for the benefit of the nation.  CESA President Zulch Lötter states, “It is important that we use local consultants”.

In his address on the state of the industry, CESA President, Zulch Lötter identified 4 burning bridges that require urgent attention. One of the burning bridges is Government’s lack of strategic technical maintenance planning at sub national and national levels.  This is exacerbated by the outflow of qualified experienced technical staff from government departments and includes staff that have at least 10 to 15 years experience and have the ability to mentor.  This has not been helped by the substantial growth in the industry and has resulted in crises in the Energy; Roads and Transport and Water and Sanitation Sectors.

In this regard CESA has committed itself to ensuring that these issues are identified and Government is well informed.  CESA is in the process of compiling a report on the State of Infrastructure in South Africa.  The results of this report will inform the areas that require the most attention in order to enhance service delivery.

We are all well aware of the Eskom crisis but could also be heading in the same direction with Water & Sanitation and Roads & Transport if something drastic is not done.  A preventive maintenance programme is urgently needed to avert a potential crisis and CESA has the collective capacity of its members available to assist government to produce both a short term as well as long term solution.  Graham Pirie, CESA CEO, believes that, “Government needs to take a long term view, depoliticize the process and and re-instate the career of the public servant.  The current procedure of 5 year contracts for public servants is leading to lack of continuity and expertise which is proving detrimental to service delivery.”

The Energy crisis is currently being addressed with the announcement by Eskom of an average 25% increase in the cost of electricity across the board. It is a fact that the price of electricity, just like water, in our country has been too cheap for too long with the result that both maintenance and increasing capacity have been neglected leading to the current crisis.  Lötter states, “What is needed is a mix of interventions including privatization, CESA member firms know how to assist and partner with Eskom.”  On the negative side, the price increase will have an effect on the man in the street, but on a positive note corporate and industrial clients will make a move towards improving their efficiency as they possess the ability to adapt resulting in a positive change to the energy sector.  Demand side management is taking centre stage. 

For years Eskom has had a price monopoly resulting in inefficient practices as external sources of energy have always cost too much.  Independent Power Providers (IPPs) have effectively been kept out of the market but the structure is finally changing resulting in increased competitiveness.  The positive spinoff of the increased tariffs is that many opportunities now exist as the industry has not developed to its full potential.  As far as Consulting Engineers are concerned in the past Eskom has had a preference for using overseas consultants but CESA is pleased to report that there has been a shift to local consultants.  Lotter states that for IPPs the current regulatory environment requires urgent attention.  He states that Eskom has a 20 year energy project pipe line.  Their Integrated Resource Plan I (IRP I) is in operation but he believes that IRP II needs to be expedited.  Government needs to stimulate the implementation of available alternative technologies, e.g. solar water heaters.
He states that conventional nuclear power generation or ‘clean’ energy does have a role to play. The present hike in energy costs will improve its viability and it is not impossible for nuclear power to form 50% of the future energy mix in SA. Carbon emissions need to be managed to mitigate pollution.  Lotter believes that technology is not the issue as it is available.  The issue lies in the institutional, budgetary, regulatory and human resources arenas.  He believes that it is probable that 2010 will, in addition to the Soccer World Cup, be remembered as the year when energy provision in SA started to undergo a permanent structural change.

The results of the bi-annual Consulting Engineers South Africa (CESA) Economic and Capacity Survey for the period July to December 2009 just released indicate that conditions in the consulting engineering industry continue to become more challenging, and as expected weakened considerably during the last 6 months of 2009. Fee income fell by 8% compared to the first six months, or by 16,9% y/y adjusted for inflation (CPI). Most firms expected tighter conditions in 2010, and projected an average 2% drop in earnings during the first 6 months of 2010. Conditions in the last 6 months of 2009 were not as bad as expected, shown by the improvement in confidence levels, as well as a softer than expected decline in earnings.

The industry’s ROI (unweighted average) increased from 47,8% to 65.8% with the majority of firms reporting a ROI of between 20% and 100%.  Fee earnings outstanding from local government have increased to 16% of total earnings, the highest level since the December 2004 survey when fees outstanding escalated to over 14%. Fees outstanding for provincial government rose to 27%. A sharp increase reported by larger firms in fees outstanding from foreign clients increased the overall rate to 18,5%. This means the consulting industry is hit twice as hard, on the one side, by a contraction in demand and on the other side, a tendency by clients to withhold payments for work already completed.  Late payments increased dramatically during the second half of 2009, mainly due to a sharp increase reported in foreign clients. Because of the prominence of the local government as a client to the consulting industry, it represents the bulk of late payments from the government sector, estimated at R430 million.

Growth in gross fixed capital formation slowed to 1,2% y/y in the 3rd quarter, from 5,3% in the 2nd quarter and 11,8% in 2008. A decline in private sector investment particularly in new housing construction, machinery, equipment and transport contributed to the poor performance in gross fixed investment. Slower growth in non-residential construction will have a negative impact on gross fixed capital formation in 2010. The contribution of GFCF to GDP averaged between 20% and 22% during the last five quarters, a marked improvement from an average of 17% in 2005. Over the last four years there has been a substantial increase in fixed capital, necessary to support longer term and sustainable economic growth.

Industry Outlook
Confidence levels deteriorated during the last six months to an index value of 86.0, compared to 96.2 in the first six months. This is the second consecutive survey that showed deterioration in the index, and the first time since 2002 there has been a real notable shift in engineering confidence. Since 2005, confidence levels amongst consulting engineers have consistently remained above 98% showing exceptional levels of satisfaction with current working conditions. The outlook for 2010, based on industry sentiment, is gloomier, as confidence levels continued to deteriorate, averaging 74.6 in the first half of the year, with a mild improvement reported for the second half to an average of 87.0. The depressed outlook in the consulting engineering industry will have a lagged impact on industry turnover, affecting downstream opportunities for suppliers and contractors.

Investment in construction
For the first time since the late seventies, investment in the civil industry has a higher contribution to GDP compared to the building industry.
Sustained investment in buildings is impossible without supportive investment in civil works, and given the rapid increase in civil investment in recent years, greater investment in buildings is likely to follow once the current financial crunch has filtered through the economy.

Human Resources
There was no real change in employment since the June 2009 survey. Black people represented 45,4% of the total number of people employed up from 43% in the previous survey. The contribution of black people in professional appointments increased to 15,2%, from 13,2% in the preceding survey.  Fewer firms are looking to employ engineers. Even though employment has slowed, there haven’t been any major retrenchments resulting in significant job losses, as engineers continue to be a critical scarce skill.  Trying to conform to BBBEE requirements, means demand for black engineers will continue to put pressure on firms, as there are simply not enough experienced black engineers available to fill those positions. There was an 8% increase in black Pr. Eng between June and December, as well as a 9% increase in administration staff and an 18% increase in draughtsman.

Training
Direct training costs, a measurement of firms contribution to training, increased to 1,02% of the salary and wage bill, up from 0,8% in the two consecutive surveys. This means the industry is spending more money on training.  Spending on black bursaries, may have improved marginally to 0,2% in the December 2009 survey but continues to fall slightly short of the targeted 0,3% as per the construction charter.

Capacity Utilisation
Capacity utilization fell for the third consecutive survey, and is currently below 90%, the lowest rate since the June 2002 survey. An increasing number of firms are also expecting utilization rates to fall in the next 6 months. Larger firms remain busy though.

Industry challenges
• The consulting engineering industry is threatened by incapacitated local and provincial governments. As major clients to the industry it is important that these institutions become more effective, more proactive in identifying needs and priorities and more efficient in project implementation and – management.
• Lack of capacity within government, not only threatens the future growth of the consulting engineering industry, but also the economic growth potential of the South African economy, and with it, the future prospects of each and every South African citizen. Investment in critical scarce resources such as water, is after all, a non-negotiable, but continues to fail to be listed on the priority list of many departments.
• The involvement of non CESA members in government tenders and procurement continues to threaten the standard and performance of the industry. Non-CESA members do not seem to comply with the same standards and principles as those firms that are members of CESA. Whether this is linked to complaints of “below cost” tendering during 2009, is not certain, but CESA members should be better informed about engaging in below cost tendering.
• The current tendering and procurement procedures do not acknowledge performance.
• Lack of attention to maintain infrastructure poses a serious problem to the industry. Not only is it much more costly to build new infrastructure, but dilapidated infrastructure hampers economic growth potential. The cost of resurfacing a road after seven years is estimated, at current prices, at R175 000 per kilometre, compared to R3 million per kilometre to rebuild. Less than 6% of the construction price. In many cases infrastructure is left to deteriorate to such a state, that maintenance becomes almost impossible. This simply translates to ineffective spending of tax payer’s money.
• As clients grapple to secure funding (including private sector developers and government departments) the issue of non-payment will intensify during 2010.
• A major challenge to the industry is to find a way to standardize the procurement procedures applied by the different government departments. Procurement procedures should be standard for the country, or at least for the specific tier of government.

Quality Management System
A quality management system (QMS) is a control that is implemented at various stages of production process or service delivery stages. A QMS system is important for all firms, big and small. This is the first time that all firms reported to have a QMS in place, compared to an industry average of 84% in the June 2009 survey. Having a QMS in place is now compulsory for all CESA members, who recognize the importance of good efficient quality control. CESA recommends the ISO:9001:2000 frame work, recognizing this framework as being comprehensive and internationally recognized. In addition all firms are now required to adhere to a Business Integrity Management System (BIMS) as a condition of membership that is primarily directed at contributing towards the eradication of corruption in the industry.

Directorate
With a stable record of providing good overall services including those provided by the directorate, CESA faces the challenge to maintain its service level above the satisfactory mark. Adhering to the different needs, which includes catering to the needs of around 20 different disciplines, and with a diverse member base, CESA has accomplished an excellent record thus far and has certainly improved its overall service (including those to medium and smaller firms) since the inception of the quality survey in 2006. Tougher working conditions are expected to continue in 2010, as confidence levels have started to deteriorate. The need to address critical strategic issues such as pricing, improved procurement processes and client education will escalate in coming months to assist members through these tougher periods.

This year the 2010 Group of African Member Associations (GAMA) Conference and AGM was held at the Whitesands Resort in Mombasa, Kenya, a magnificent setting for our annual get together.  Unfortunately, the overall attendance was not what is should have been due to the late finalisation of the programme.  All in all 114 delegates registered and 11 member associations were represented from across the continent.  The business programme provided some informative input and the usual networking opportunities. 

After introductions by the local ACEK Chairman and the FIDIC President, the Conference was formally opened by Prime Minister Engineer, Raila Odinga, one of the very few Engineers from across the planet holding such high office.  The Prime Minister stayed for the day and took note of the key issues affecting African Consultants and undertook to use the African Union as a conduit to address them and advised that we all do the same.  A number of Ministers also attended.  It was refreshing to receive input from a Prime Minister who really understood the value and importance of the Consulting Engineering industry to a stable and growing economy.  Tourism, a mainstay of the economy was now returning to normality after a major decline caused by the recent violence in Kenya, requiring large investments in related infrastructure. Kenya’s vision 2030 is to take the country from a struggling third world player into the future and, in so doing, recognises the need to develop science and technology capacity where engineers are the key player.  A key aspect in this process is to preserve the environment and make sustainability a priority as well as to engage actively with the younger generation of Engineers.  “The African people must take stock and lead the development of the continent”.  He queried why the richest continent is also the poorest?  He would like to implement the dream of Cecil Rhodes as symbolised by the Cape to Cairo Railway and he emphasised that this could only happen if corruption is eradicated.

The Kenyan Minister of Roads said Kenya’s goal was to achieve the millennium development goals by 2015 and to do this, PPP’s had to become more prevalent in the delivery process. As in South Africa, he cautioned that there are many who masquerade as Consulting Engineers and their Engineers Act has been revived to promote good governance, integrity and CPD as well as to regulate and register not only individuals, but firms as well.  There were a number of papers such as Why Engineering Structures Fail; Issues and Challenges Facing Consultants in Africa; The Consulting Engineer in Global Economic Recession; the Consulting Engineer and Strategic Infrastructure Planning; and some more detailed presentations such as the Strategic Plan for the Roads Sector in Sudan.  These presentations will be uploaded to the FIDIC website shortly and appear under Regional Groupings. 

During the Conference there was an appeal for local Consultants to build capacity and in so doing, throw off the yoke of being sub Consultants and rather to become lead Consultants with the assistance of client entities.  Africa lags in developing local skills mainly because International Finance Institutions and public sector clients seem to give preference to overseas skills. 

A presentation by the FIDIC President dealt with the relationship between quality and price and queried “why do Engineers so willingly discount their fees knowing that they will be unable to deliver the quality?”  FIDIC member firms collectively generate some $4.5trillion dollars annually of project values and FIDIC’s target is to obtain a membership of 100 member associations by their centenary in 2013.  Currently membership stands at 84 member associations, 45000 firms and in excess of 1 million professionals with annual fees totalling R310billion.  CESA is currently the 10th largest member association.  FIDIC also predicts a global infrastructure upturn by 2011. 

A very successful workshop was held on the third day under the theme “Financing Africa’s Infrastructure Tomorrow – a business opportunity workshop” where there were speakers from the African Development Bank, our local Industrial Development Corporation and a speaker from the African Management Services Company (AMSCO) who spoke on the sustainable replacement of expatriate enterprises and capacity building through training programmes which is a project under the auspices of the UNDP. 

Finally, of note was the GAMA Executive’s agreement to support the creation of an African Green Building Council network to assist in the creation of local Green Building Councils in individual countries such as that created in South Africa.  This initiative also has the support of the African Union of Architects.  
To finalise with a quote from Douglas Barnett of the African Financing Partners part of the African Development Bank “the heart of the development is the development of the heart”.

Graham Pirie

Limited agreement reached at COP 15 Climate Change Summit

FIDIC has acknowledged that the non-binding Copenhagen Accord reached during the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP15 summit in December 2009, while not a political agreement to start immediate action, was a step towards a global low-carbon economy. However, pending clear commitments and mitigation actions, much remained to be done to deliver a robust, legally-binding post-Kyoto 2012 framework agreement that provided the predictability needed to plan infrastructure investments. So while the process to reach a global agreement had started, work was needed to detail specific aspects, in particular those aimed at making monitoring, reporting and verification processes operational. Business now needed to collaborate with governments to help advance the decisions to establish the terms and procedures that will give the required predictability, with the UNFCCC hopefully aiming to benefit from business expertise and actions.
 
Initiatives leading to COP15 indicated that the industry groups responsible for the sector that contributed most to global warming, namely building and construction, lacked a coordinated approach, a situation that needed to be corrected. For instance, none of the submissions by non-governmental organisations dealt directly with the sector, while the main business activity, the Business Day, mainly addressed strategic issues. Fortunately, a few special initiatives were developed for the summit notably the Common Carbon Metric by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Sustainable Buildings and Construction Initiative (SBCI) of which FIDIC is a founder member and a leading contributor. It provided a standardised method of measuring a building's carbon footprint as the basis for establishing baselines, performance benchmarking, and monitoring building performance improvements.

Climate change task group would aim to map out industry strategies
Following the limited success of the COP15 summit, the consensus was that the best choice for industry sectors would be to continue with the bottom-up approach. They should act independently to cut emissions and to adapt to the impact of climate change while the UN negotiations process was reformed in order to avoid deadlocks yet allowing democratic decisions to be reached in a transparent and inclusive way. So looking ahead, the FIDIC Executive Committee will consider at its next meeting a proposal by the Sustainable Development Committee to establish a Climate Change Task Force to work with and help provide FIDIC Member Associations the guidance and information that was needed to assist governments in developing appropriate standards and solutions aimed at reducing carbon emissions. In this regard CESA has been asked to nominate someone to the FIDIC Climate Change Task Force and that as an organisation is actively involved with the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA). In addition to this preparations are underway for a Sustainable Development Policy Framework for CESA Member firms.

CESA is partnering with the South African Institute of Civil Engineers (SAICE) to launch the Candidate Academy that will support graduates on their road to professional registration with The Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA). Brenda Lacey-Smith, Manager of CESA’s School of Consulting Engineering (SCE) states that the establishment of the Academy is being driven by Allyson Lawless, MD of SAICE’s Professional Development and Projects in order to rebuild the skills foundation of this vital sector.
For many years, South Africa has been failing its engineering graduates by paying too little attention to their professional development once they enter the job market with a degree or diploma. Graduates need concerted and on-going training in the workplace to become competent professionals, able to earn their registration with the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA). For many years, this training and development has simply not been taking place to anywhere near the extent required resulting in a slow decline in the number of engineering professionals, worldwide trend.

Graduate engineers need to be taken through the full 'project cycle'  covering all the technical activities involved in civil engineering projects from engineering and re-engineering, through construction, to operations and maintenance.  An indicator that this is not happening is that it now takes young engineers much longer to achieve their ECSA registration – thereby holding back their potential contribution to their companies and to economic development as a whole. While it was previously the norm to register after three to four years of solid workplace exposure, only about a quarter of today’s graduates achieve professional status by the time they are 30 years old. Addressing the gap between theory and application is to be the focus of the Candidate Academy.

The Academy will provide both structure and content to help young engineers to develop workplace competencies, building them from their theoretical training through the ‘how’ of engineering projects and processes. This training will be exercise-based, starting with a brief refresher on the topic and leading into a guided practical learning exercise or project - a very different approach from current highly theoretical or advanced courses, aimed at assisting experienced professionals earn CPD points.

SAICE and CESA have teamed up to provide technical and professional practice training through the Education and Training department of SAICE, and CESA’s School of Consulting Engineers. Technical training will focus on aspects that are fundamental to developing an engineering career.  While the ECSA outcomes and forms are published for access by all, the ‘how’ of training graduates to achieve registration status is not that evident, and the management of the process is complex. A comprehensive package has been developed by the Candidate Academy to assist graduates and employers alike, including planning tools to make up a Workplace Training Plan – with digital enhancements to make the planning, tracking and reporting of activities easier to manage. A Portfolio of Evidence file is also available to offer safe and logical storage of all precious originals for future reference. An important offering includes a suite of courses aimed at the key role players in the ECSA registration process being:

• graduates in the workplace,
• supervisors who oversee the daily work of graduates,
• industry mentors who help guide and plan the direction of qualified engineers as they begin their careers, and
• HR practitioners who take much of the responsibility for appropriate placement and care of young engineers entering the world of work, and must keep records of their progress.

The courses will be rolled out nationwide during April and May 2010.
For more details of courses, activities and dates, please see the Candidate Academy icon on www.civils.org.za or www.cesa.co.za or contact Dawn Hermanus at SAICE on 011-805 5947 or Brenda Lacey-Smith at CESA on 011-4632022

The YPF Gauteng Branches have embarked on a Saturday tutoring initiative at Crossroads Boys Home in Salvokop, Pretoria. Crossroads is home to some 35 boys and young men who were previously homeless.

The Home was brought to the attention of the YPF when we were invited to present at a career day for the boys. It was after this experience that the YPF Gauteng Branches decided to launch a programme whereby YP’s could assist these young men with their studies and provide mentorship to them.  Ramona Reddy (Stemele Bosch & Associates and the YPF Gauteng South Committee) took on the role of Champion for the project. Under her management, a regular tutorship programme was launched in September 2009. Every fortnight, YP’s have spent their Saturday morning helping the boys with their schoolwork. Some have even brought friends and partners along! YP’s have assisted with subjects such as Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Accounting, Computer Studies, Tourism as well as some basic skills such as reading.

Says Ramona: “It has been long believed that the first six years of a child’s life are most critical when they are particularly vulnerable to their environment. When this childhood environment is corrupted by all sorts of abuse, neglect and unhappiness surely a child takes many years to undo the damaging effects of the destructive environment. I believe it takes just a few hours of someone’s time to help someone to slowly counter the negative effects of their childhood.
We can all strive to help the un-helped, educate the uneducated, motivate the demotivated and most important of all – show love to the unloved. As young professionals, if we lead the correct path we will soon have a large following on the same path.”  Some of the boys at Crossroads are already pursuing their dreams by studying further and going for training; we can assist the younger children by establishing a library of unwanted textbooks, novels and other reading material.

The boys have positive feedback and are excited to have assistance with homework, career advice and the mentorship opportunity. As YPs we have much we can offer the home with this initiative.”
The YPF would like to thank Ramona for her dedication to this project and for the huge amount of personal time she has put into making it a success. We would also like to thank our other volunteers (Tshireletso Rammutla of BKS, Clement Maphanga of ITS Engineering, Kieren Brown of MPA Consulting, Edward Bird of DJJ Conradie & Partners, Mhairi Riddet of ARUP, Denzel Maduray of SSI Engineers, Sande Taka of Bigen Africa, Livingstone Mashele of Stemele Bosch and Kabelo Serutle of TUKS) for spending their personal time with the boys and thereby helping them to achieve a brighter future.

For more details, contact: Ramona Reddy (reddyr@sbajhb.co.za)

CESA welcomes Deltek as new affiliate for practice management software

With more than 12,000 customers worldwide, Deltek are the leading provider of enterprise applications for project-focused organisations. Deltek enables companies to maximise profitability and productivity, integrating all aspects of the businesses. Deltek products power a myriad of front and back office processes including accounting, billing, budgeting and control, resource planning CRM and proposal automation and HR management.

Deltek are the global market leaders in practice management solutions for architecture and engineering businesses. Our solution, Deltek Vision, helps firms streamline operations, win more business and execute more profitable projects.

Visit www.deltek.com
Marcus Leathwood – Vice President Marketing
marcusleathwood@deltek.com

CESA Welcomes Glenrand M•I•B as a new affiliate for insurance broking and risk advisory services

Glenrand M•I•B provides expert insurance broking and risk advisory services and is a supplier of Household & Motor Insurance products for the individual.

They insure 23 of the top 100 South African public companies, thousands of private owned businesses and individuals and pride themselves on their long-standing relationships with them.

Sue Welch, Account Manager at Glenrand M•I•B states, “We are proud to be associated with CESA and through our large client base and market influence, have secured superior cover and preferential rates on Household and Motor Insurance to all CESA Members, offering a cost effective insurance solution in line with our brand promise of providing ‘service beyond expectation’.”

For further details please contact Sue Welch on 011 329 1839 or email swelch@glenrandmib.co.za

CESA Welcomes Leads 2 Business as a new affiliate for research, development and tender services

Leads 2 Business provides researched information on new Developments and Tenders within the Built Environment; their service is aimed at Professionals, Contractors and Vendors.
Service incorporates:
Private Projects - which alerts subscribers to information on privately funded developments, segmented into Commercial, Industrial, Mining, Retail and Residential Sectors.
Daily Tenders - distributes detailed tender information, categorised into relevant industries, i.e. Consultants, Civil, Building, etc. Selected advisories are sent to your inbox daily.
 
Leads 2 Business’ ethos is that of service excellence, customer relations and providing solutions to an evolving construction Industry.
Contact Sales@L2B.co.za or 0860 TENDER for more information, one of their professional staff will assist you. Alternatively log onto www.L2B.co.za http://www.L2B.co.za