South African engineers are unhappy that government has gone outside the country in search of skills to solve South Africa’s water problems.

This comes after government welcomed 34 Cuban water experts to the country last week.  The arrival of the experts follows a bilateral agreement between South Africa and Cuba in 2014 on cooperation in the fields of water resources management and water supply.

In a statement voicing its displeasure the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) pointed out that the country has world-class civil engineering professionals in hydrology and hydraulics and water engineering in general.

The institute used local water expert Neil Macleod, who received the 2014 Stockholm Industry Water Award for “Most progressive water utility in Africa” on behalf of eThekwini Water & Sanitation, as an example of the quality of experts in the country.

Manglin Pillay, CEO of SAICE, states, “Our engineers are world-renowned and very well recognised globally, but we don’t seem to be having the same favour here in South Africa!”

The institute further pointed out that if the Department of Water and Sanitation launched its “recruitment drive to find skilled professionals to deal with South Africa’s water problems” in South Africa, with the same remuneration and incentives, it is confident that many a civil engineering practitioner, who knows the country’s water challenges inside out, would have been available to assist in ‘sorting’ these out in rural communities, and in national and provincial infrastructure departments.

Government needs to SA engineers working abroad

“Our engineers need to get first choice. We have excellent, experienced engineers both locally, as well as those who are currently working outside of South Africa.  Government needs to make strides to attract South African engineers back to South Africa and back into our government sector where they are most needed. If there is a shortage thereafter, then the whole world can join us,” says Pillay.

The institute believes that bringing Cuban engineers to South Africa will also, unfortunately, not bridge the gap to solve government’s lack of communication with the civil engineering fraternity to finding solutions for the country’s water problems.

“Approaching government raises the challenge that when engineers, and particularly engineers who are business owners, raise these concerns, they fear being marginalised from further project work with government,” the statement added.

SAICE, however, says it has been raising these concerns on behalf of its members (individual civil engineering practitioners) and continues to offer assistance to government to resolve these key challenges.