29 September 2021. Day 2 of the Consulting Engineers South Africa (CESA) Annual Infrastructure Indaba kicked off this morning with discussions centring 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. \u201cHowever, the private sector is not following suit. Top management and c-suite positions are still largely dominated by men \u2013 with 77%.\u201d She emphasised the importance of addressing transformation through tailored approaches that ensure a diverse talent pipeline prepared to fill engineering industry skills gaps.<\/p>\n
Renee Petersen from SMEC, and Chairperson of the CESA Young Professionals Forum (YPF) tackled the topic of unconscious bias. \u201cThese are deeply ingrained assumptions which we are often not aware of, and we must consider how this impacts the workplace,\u201d said Petersen. She encouraged delegates to embrace their own behaviour changes to foster a culture of inclusion. Lebo Leshabane from iX engineers agreed that transformation starts with culture. Specifically, she said: \u201cFor transformation to be successful, the advocated values and behaviours must become prevalent throughout the organisation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lindiwe Madonsela, Manager for Advocacy, Education and Awareness for the B-BBEE Commission discussed transformation from an economic empowerment perspective. The Commission monitors the implementation of the construction sector code when considering the state of transformation in the construction sector \u2013 including built environment professionals. She said, \u201cIn the construction sector, there has been a good progression in terms of black ownership with movement towards transformation. However, we need more progress on black-woman ownership.\u201d She reported that transformation is hindered by fraud, non-compliance with the definition of \u201cblack\u201d, increased fronting, and \u201cexpenditure dumping\u201d on skills development and enterprise and supplier development, amongst others. The B-BBEE Commission has a free advisory service which the construction industry is encouraged to use.<\/p>\n
The discussion on transformation ended on a technology perspective from Bennie Vorster, Regional Director: Rail Business Unit, at HATCH. He discussed the digital transformation journey, which brings value for clients of consulting engineers. \u201cIt allows remote work with global collaboration, as well as integrated documentation management which enables a simplified review process. Together, this equips businesses with a smoother workflow.\u201d Vorster was joined by HATCH\u2019s John Birnie from Canada who reiterated the importance of adopting technology for a modernised and globalised workflow.<\/p>\n
Draft Framework on Professionalising Public Service <\/strong><\/p>\n Professionalisation in the state and the private sector was another key topic on day 2. Facilitated by Naomi Naidoo from Pink Africa Consulting Engineers and CESA Board Member, views from both private and public stakeholders agree that professionalisation of the state requires public-private coordination. Naidoo addressed the poor picture painted each year by the Auditor-General\u2019s municipal audit report and highlighted the role of the private sector in assisting the state with skills transfer to work towards the improved public sector.<\/p>\n Notably, Dr Florencia Belvedere, Lead: State Reform Programme at the Public Affairs Research Institute (PARI) presented measures underway to improve the effectiveness of state institutions and implementation of public policies. \u201cThe acknowledgement by the public sector that professionalisation is needed \u2013 and that there must be a de-politicising of public servants \u2013 is a step in the right direction. We must now work together to ensure that the Draft Framework on Professionalising Public Service goes ahead to implementation.\u201d PARI has proposed that for professionalisation to succeed, there must be regular integrity and competency tests and more checks and balances in the personnel processes.<\/p>\n Edwin Baloyi, President of SABTACO commented that professionalisation of the public sector cannot be done at the compromise of transformation and the advancement of black professionals. Skills development must be inclusive, he said. \u201cContinuous development is important to foster public servants who are more competitive and are equipped to perform their roles.\u201d Zeenat Ghoor, CEO, Aspire Consulting followed Baloyi with a discussion on the professionalisation of the private sector, which she admitted is a much simpler process than in the public sector, where plans are governed by complex policies and organisational hierarchies. \u201cHowever, I believe that knowledge sharing across public and private entities is accessible, and vital. We need each other, so we should work together.\u201d<\/p>\n Presenting on behalf of the National School of Government, Dr Botshabelo Maja said that professionalising is one of those interventions we have to put in place if we are going to achieve the National Development Plan 2030. \u201cIf we achieve a professional state, we will see different attitudes and behaviours towards serving the public.\u201d He added that professionalisation is a complex process and a key part of this is positioning the government as an employer of choice, working with voluntary associations, and working with higher education institutes. Finally, he reiterated previous presenters\u2019 feelings that professionalisation of the state requires private sector involvement.<\/p>\n Infrastructure: The key to equality<\/strong><\/p>\n The final discussion of the day was facilitated by Olu Soluade, CESA Vice President, and began with Skhumbuzo Macozoma, CEO of SANRAL. He explained the road ahead for SANRAL which is working towards a new vision. \u201cWe have realised that our pursuit of being \u2018the best in the world\u2019 is not what our people need. Rather, our new focus is on \u2018delivering value for South African citizens.\u201d SANRAL has committed to working on improving their reputation, the road network, transformation, being more agile and working into Africa and beyond.<\/p>\n Addressing infrastructure project planning, Sinenhlanhla Chamane, CEO of M & C Consulting Engineers said that the current emphasis on infrastructure development in urban areas places rural areas at a disadvantage. \u201cWe are still seeing mass urban migration as people seek quality education and public services.\u201d She recommended that mixed-use developments in rural areas could assist with solving this challenge.<\/p>\n In closing, CESA CEO, Chris Campbell said that discussions over the two-day conference have inspired thinking towards approaching infrastructure development from an entire lifecycle perspective. \u201cPerhaps it is time we consider implementing infrastructure with a maintenance plan of sorts, considering condition monitoring and asset monitoring that goes beyond a three-year plan.\u201d<\/p>\n CESA President Sugen Pillay concluded the event by presenting resolutions which were developed over the course of the indaba. He encouraged engineers to actively contribute to the rebuild project, driven by purpose. \u201cWhen we execute infrastructure projects with purpose, we stand to optimise the positive impacts such as a reduction in poverty, inequality and unemployment.\u201d He said that CESA will also continue advocating for quality cost-based selection and value for money. Finally, he said: \u201cAs part of our wider transformation journey, we must consider how we can embrace technology, inform our clients of new solutions, and leverage what is available to improve on our efficiency,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n CESA Contact details:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n Thabiso Dlamini<\/p>\n Account Manager<\/p>\n Tel: 079\u00a0098 4863<\/p>\n thabiso@swmcommunications.co.za<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 29 September 2021. Day 2 of the Consulting Engineers South Africa (CESA) Annual Infrastructure Indaba kicked off this morning with discussions centring 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. \u201cHowever, the private sector is not following suit. Top management and c-suite positions are still largely dominated by men \u2013 with 77%.\u201d She emphasised the importance of addressing transformation through tailored approaches that ensure a diverse talent pipeline prepared to fill engineering industry skills gaps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17156,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cesa","category-press-releases"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17154"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17157,"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17154\/revisions\/17157"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}