Byline: Jannie Pietersen: Excerpt from IMESA’s 2012 presidential address

Caption: While traditional technical skills are vital for the municipal engineer they key issue going forward is the development of non-technical and interpersonal skills.

Trevor Manuel, head of the National Planning Commission and president Zuma, in his State of the Nation address, both called on South Africans to do two things: firstly, to offer our efforts, time and skills as individuals and citizens of our country; secondly – and this is a message that comes particularly from Manuel – to realise that in order to solve our problems, we need to do things differently.

It is always tempting to believe that throwing money at a problem will solve it. The implication for municipal engineers in South Africa is that we need to change from being “engineers with technical skills” to becoming “engineers for change.” As municipal engineers we have the privilege of being able to improve the lives and well-being of all South Africans particularly the most vulnerable in society: the poorest of the poor and the children – our citizens of tomorrow.

Perhaps part of the answer lies in not focussing solely on the “big picture”. Someone once asked the question: “How do you eat an elephant?” The memorable answer? “One bite at a time”. Trying to simultaneously tackle all the problems facing South Africa would dampen the spirits of even the most optimistic municipal engineer. Focus instead on the problems of the municipality or municipalities in which you live or work. Contribute towards fixing one municipality at a time, one problem at a time. Waiting for policy statements or strategies from National Government will achieve nothing as no government has all of the answers.

IMESA has an important leadership role to play. We can contribute towards positive change in South Africa by changing our own mind-set from one of “we are engineers” to a more significant “we are mentors who support municipalities in engineering their own change.” In sharing knowledge we improve skills. In improving skills we enhance the running of our municipalities. In developing the capacity and effectiveness of one municipality at a time, we can transform the lives of many.