The South African Institution of Civil Engineering has expressed its concern over the recent death of a six-year-old boy from Giyani who lost his life after falling into a trench that was left open allegedly by a company that was handling the R3 billion bulk water projects in the area.

According to the Institute the tragic death of Nsuku Mhlongo on the site of the Giyani water project is in large measure the result of a failure to follow proper processes to appoint competent and responsible organisations to execute and supervise construction contracts.   

Commenting on the matter SAICE Acting CEO, Steven Kaplan, said “The deaths of these children are an indictment of a society that fails its most vulnerable, time and time again, without a sense of either accountability or a commitment to do better”.   

Competent contractors must be appointed

In a statement released on Tuesday SAICE emphasised the need to appoint competent, responsible contractors to undertake major construction works and to ensure that they are supervised by diligent, reputable and independent consultants. 

“Among the important goals on any major construction project is the need to ensure the safety of both workers and members of surrounding communities. In this instance, that has regrettably not been the case.

“The tawdry details of the way in which the Giyani contracts were entered into are in the public domain and are the subject of a number of criminal, administrative and civil investigations,” the Institute notes.

Conflicts of interest

SAICE also highlighted the conflict of interest that arises when the control of the supervising consultants is shared with the control of the contractors, as in this case.

“Sound procurement processes would ensure that the supervising consultants were independent of the contractor precisely to ensure that good practice, such as the maintenance of safety standards, was enforced. If that had been applied in this case, risky situations such as that which led to the unfortunate death of young Nsuku Mhlongo would not have arisen.”

Kaplan added: “The work that needs to be done to alleviate skills shortage, a symptom of all struggling municipalities, has never been more urgent.”

“A lot is broken and will remain so, with ever accumulating and compounding cost to the country and the youngest, most vulnerable in our society,” he concluded.