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Business and engineering have remedies for the economic and social chaos SA faces, says owner of GWD Manufacturing Engineering Consultants Greville Wood.
By Greville Wood*
Society cannot remain stable when 80% of its people aged between 18 and 35 years will never find a job and history shows that the white minority will become the scapegoat to cover-up government’s incompetence, corruption and failures. As we have the business leadership and engineering ability, I propose that engineering, with business finds a way out of this mess, and, this is how we can do it.
From Ford’s vehicle design office, in 1984, the manufacturing director at Ford asked me to engineer a plan, which could develop industries in squatter camps. GM and Goodyear joined with funding.
The plan presented teaches low skilled communities how to manufacturing bondable houses and schools at a cost of about 40% less than brick equivalents. House manufacturing would teach people at least fifteen portable skills, whereas the construction industry provides about seven skills, most of which are not portable.
Non-portable skills trap people in poverty as sustainable development cannot occur from these skills. Joe Slovo’s’ plan was to use RDP housing to create jobs and economies in low skilled communities so that they no longer financially burdened the State. Because government used the construction industry, after spending over R200bn on RDP housing, his job-creating plan proved to be a 100% failure.
Summary of the 2015 GWD project
However as manufacturing skills are portable, product engineers can use them to transform house factories into general manufacturing and South Africans are very good product engineers.
In 1984, black communities needed extra income to be able to afford housing, as building society bonds were not available to them. I outlined a farming plan based on modifying Ford’s assembly line management systems to suit farming and provide the management for long term farming success in low skilled communities. Consequently, the extra income from farming would justify the introduction of house manufacturing.
Soon after completing the manufacturing Proof in 1985/6, the three manufacturers left SA and funding to transfer from Proof to factory was no longer available.
Siemens Medical Engineering joined the team in 1993, which also comprised the three Ford directors who stayed in PE. The plan was presented to government in 1994 and by 1995 the National Research Foundation (NRF), the CSIR, the Medical Research Council, Wits School of Mechanical Engineering, the PE Technikon, Potch University of Ecology Reclamation and Pretoria University Department of Research Support all supported development and the NRF approached government on implementation.
Instead, the dti asked the Sociology of Work Unit (SWOP) at Wits to evaluate the plan. SWOP admitted that they did not understand the plan but “felt” that it could not work and implied that sociologists could do a better job than science and engineering. They also advised not to create jobs in squatter camps.
This became governments view up until 2009 when a joint report to parliament’s Science & Technology Portfolio Committee, from Dr Mehlomakulu, now CEO of the SABS and the CSIR, confirmed the plans viability.
This stopped officials acting against the plan’s development and allowed the European Union to fund the recreation the 1985/6 manufactured housing Proof. In a report to the CSIR on the 2011 Proof, consulting engineers confirmed that the plan could have prevented the R50bn RDP housing repair bill.
In 2012, agricultural experts at NW University advised the DTI to incorporate the farm management systems and prevent another R4bn wasted in farm failures.
The Magareng job creation plan
Because of policy changes, I can now and am currently applying to the Land Bank and the Industrial Development Corporation for start-up funds to develop a R350m farming, houses manufacturing plan that will create around 1 800 permanent jobs for Magareng (Warrenton) council, near Kimberley.
This Warrenton plan is the same as the 1984 plan, the 1985/6 Proof, the 1995/6 Proof for the NRF, the 2011 EU funded Proof, and the same that government rejected since 1996. The only conclusion I see possible, is that government never intended to support development from the beginning and that is still the case at the DTI.
Driving the country into poverty and social unrest is not what I as an engineer want for my family’s future. Whatever the political reason government has for rejecting these plans, the jobless community at Warrenton rejects them. They served a Constitutional Court Order on Warrenton ANC councillors who were trying to hold up this plan for dubious reasons. Those councillors soon got the message after receiving the Order and soon afterwards signed the Magareng/GWD agreement.
The economic and social chaos we face, business and engineering have the remedies. Let us bypass government, do the job ourselves, using the Warrenton plan as a base, and with the support of the jobless communities, develop the industries and businesses needed.
Please let Biznews know your views and if there is sufficient support, a meeting can be arranged where the team and the plan can be grilled. As I know how to mobilise the jobless, let us take the plan to the next step, a rollout plan and implement it where everyone then scores, business, the jobless and engineering and to hell with this corrupt, incompetent government.
• Greville Wood is owner of GWD Manufacturing Engineering Consultants
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