Consulting Engineers South Africa (CESA) received with sadness the news of the resignation of SANRAL CEO Nazir Alli, and lauded him for exceptional performance since his appointment to the position of CEO of SANRAL in 1998.

Under his leadership SANRAL has produced and maintained an impressive national network of roads to world-class standard. Due to this success, SANRAL’s task has recently been extended to managing the regional network of roads in certain provinces. Creating such an impressive network of roads is no mean feat and has been developed throughout his tenure.

CESA believes that careful consideration needs to be given when looking for a suitable candidate to replace Alli and continue with the good groundwork laid and to ensure staff retention of existing skills within SANRAL.

Graham Pirie, CEO of CESA states, “Alli’s replacement needs to have both senior managerial as well technical skills in order to operate in such a complex and highly technical environment.” CESA considers the retention of skills as critical to ensure the seamless operation of a very important entity.

Speaking at a CESA event, Alli presented a paper on the ethical issues in engineering practice. He stated that SANRAL’s view is that good governance is the solution with all the liabilities and accountabilities that go with it – and this is the framework in which business must be conducted.

Alli also requested CESA to look at performance indicators in the fight against corruption, stating: “Oil, arms and construction are the most corrupt industries in the world. Ethics is not part of a process; it is the framework within which business must be conducted.”