Johannesburg - The South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) on Monday expressed its "surprise" at Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel's announcement in the new growth path on the need for 30 000 additional engineers by 2014.
Manglin Pillay, CEO of SAICE, pointed out that experienced engineers, graduate engineers, technicians and technologists were currently unemployed.
"At present, qualified and often experienced civil engineering professionals cannot find jobs," the SAICE said.
The group called on the government, with the help of the private sector, to install proper procedures, systems and structures and to employ the correct people in appropriate positions in the public sector.
"At the moment, the system does not allow engineers and other technical capacity to enter into the government sector. SAICE is aware of situations where graduate engineers, are having considerable difficulty finding employment in the government sector," Pillay said.
The SAICE said many engineering companies were not hiring due to the slowdown in the economy, while others were on the verge of retrenching people due to the lack of projects in which to use civil engineering professionals.
"This situation can to some extent be laid at thegovernment's door for not rolling out the projects for which President Zuma has committed. Had government been proactive, planned and rolled out these projects, the void that arose after the completion of the 2010 infrastructure could have been avoided and many companies would not have found themselves in a position where they have had to retrench highly qualified and experienced civil engineers," it said.
The SAICE said that many engineers had accepted jobs in other countries and were lost to South Africa, while others struggled to find new positions.
"The situation in which engineers find themselves presently is untenable, taking into account that there are thousands of vacancies in local and national government," the SAICE said.
"Some consulting engineering firms have been releasing engineers due to the lack of projects despite the government committing to spend some R800bn on infrastructure projects," Pillay said.
Struggle appointments add to loss
He pointed to a lack of skilled people in the government sector in relation to engineering projects, to assist with all levels of the project cycle.
"The staff currently managing these processes appear to be politically appointed cadres of the struggle that do not possess the technical qualification, experience, or background but occupy technical positions at local and provincial government.
"The impact is that SA loses these engineers to other sectors, like the banking sector, where engineering systems and strategic thinking are sought-after. We are also losing engineers to other countries," Patel said.
The SAICE said that the training of new engineers in the public sector was limited.
He highlighted corruption as a "huge problem" that prevented the current system from changing.
"Moreover, where incompetent technical staff is involved, because they lack the ability and insight into infrastructure projects, they are easily swayed into corrupt deals associated with government projects," Pillay said.
The SAICE called for strong leadership and political will.
"All too often leaders with no experience are currently managing, leading and trying to ensure technical discipline in government organisations," the group said.
"For infrastructure development and enhancement in SA, we need experienced and competent technical staff, engineers and managers employed at correct levels of authority in government," he said.