Photo: Various government commissions and agencies that have been established to solve problems in local government can research and examine the problems being experienced in infrastructure delivery but the delivery of service infrastructure can only be made a reality by civil engineering professionals

 

The South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) is dismayed to learn that the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality could soon be without its only remaining professionally registered city engineer. According to The Herald,Walter Shaidi’s five-year contract comes to an end this month and his contract has not yet been renewed. How can this be possible in a country where civil engineering is regarded as a priority scarce skill and government’s National Development Plan and all the other initiatives to better service delivery are in fact dependent on the expertise of the civil engineering professional?

Should Shaidi, a competent experienced engineer with a good track record, leave this municipality that once boasted 50 permanent professional engineers, it will have no experienced, professionally -registered engineer in its employ, and this in a municipality that governs the Eastern Cape’s industrial hub. The infrastructure department will then only have technicians and junior engineers who will not be able to appropriately oversee projects done by consultants, and the metro will have no professional engineer to sign off designs, projects, etc.The MEC for Local Government has appointed a qualified engineer to “assist “for six months, but what about continuity at senior level, or is that no longer important?

All this is happening while the city experiences pressure to deliver services.This year Port Elizabeth has borne the brunt of resident’s anger in various townships, demanding service delivery regarding water, sanitation, housing, roads, waste management – all civil engineering disciplines. The key to service delivery is to have the right people with the right attitudes, qualifications and experience in the right positions to do the work or at least to oversee what others need to be doing.

As far as infrastructure is concerned, it is general knowledge that many local authorities have not even one civil engineering professional in its employ. How does one address service delivery issues without a single competently qualified engineer? How can a municipality exert control over projects worth millions without such an engineer? It is just not possible!

A former employee of the metro said that it is indeed a disgrace that a metro the size of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality with a substantial budget does not have appropriately qualified and experienced city engineers. To solve a situation such as this, strong political will is needed.