17 Mar SAICE expresses concern over the planned National Shutdown
The South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) expresses concern over the effects of the National shutdown planned for Monday, 20th March, at a time when the country needs to unify in addressing the serious economic issues that it faces.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) announced that it will be organising various marches across the country, in a bid “to bring an end to load shedding, unemployment and for President Cyril Ramaphosa to resign”.
The 16 000 strong membership of SAICE, representing the professional civil engineering fraternity, shares the frustrations of the 15 years of persistent blackouts, and sees first-hand the damaging effects that its consequences have wrought on the economy, particularly in the post-COVID era when a growth rate of between 5 – 7% is needed to create the jobs for the millions of unemployed, which is now sitting at 32.7% of the able bodied workforce.
Clearly, unless government addresses these intertwined issues of energy supply, a stagnant economy and resulting unemployment, chaos could be the result, which would benefit nobody and harm many, financially, physically and emotionally as we have seen with the riots that impacted the country in the past two years, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal.
Our 2022 Infrastructure Report Card has highlighted South Africa’s economic infrastructure (that which makes business activity possible) remains in a satisfactory condition except for ESKOM’s energy generation. However, our social infrastructure (that which supports basic community needs) continues to deteriorate. We need to increase the investment in infrastructure from 13.7% of GDP in 2020 to at least 30% by 2030, but with the eyes of the world on us, such national shutdowns like this one announced by the EFF, are disruptive and will only attract an even more negative view, globally, on our beleaguered country and further deter international investment. Add to this, even the private sector investment, so desperately needed, will be scared away.
While we understand that everyone has a right to protest peacefully and highlight issues which affect the citizens of this country, this national shutdown, if successful, will only exacerbate the issues. They are almost certain to do nothing to alleviate or solve the loadshedding crisis, stimulate the economy or affect the level of unemployment.
A national shutdown, as reports have warned, will bring our economy to a grinding halt, and this has devastating consequences in an already struggling economy – which has, over many years, already impacted infrastructure delivery necessary for socio-economic development and growth.
We have always advocated that accelerated and efficient infrastructure procurement roll-out, addressing the current fiscal imbalance in the economy, and achieving the objectives of the National Development Plan requires a strategic focus on not just the short-term, but the medium- to long-term delivery of basic services in South Africa.
The right course of action is collaboration between all stakeholders in South Africa to enable the implementation of the country’s key policies, ride out corruption, professionalise the public sector, and drive the development of sustainable infrastructure that will grow this economy and improve the livelihoods of future generations.
About SAICE
The South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) is a learned society and voluntary organisation that acts as a catalyst for innovation and good practice in the development of the civil engineering profession. SAICE has a membership base in excess of 16 000 Civil Engineering professionals, and is involved in the development of policies, standards, structures, and systems that impact infrastructure at national and international levels.
Media Contact:
Stacey Turnbull | SWM Communications
stacey@swmcommunications.co.za
Call: 072 427 1680
Contact details:
Nthabeleng Lentsoane
SAICE: Head of Marketing
nthabeleng@saice.org.za
Call: (011) 805-5947