African Fusion March-April 2024

SAIW bulletin board

Spearheading global welding skills across the continent

SAIW recently empowered four Tanzanian stu dents with internationally recognised IIW Inter national Welder certificates. One of the successful candidates, Opodi Ezekiel, highlights the skills needs in Tanzania that is driving this initiative.

T he Southern African Institute of Welding (SAIW) is proud to announce the successful completion of core modules of the International Institute of Welding (IIW) international welder course by four pioneering Tanzanian students. This milestone not only underscores the SAIW’s position as the only institute in Africa offer ing this globally recognised qualification but also highlights its commitment to ‘train the trainers’ a crucial step towards advanc ing welding skills across the continent. The four students embarked on the IIW course at the SAIW’s Johannesburg campus in September 2023 to gain the advanced welding skills necessary to train other Tanzanian welders to meet the demands of major international projects in their country. Opodi Ezekiel, Patrick Bandali Ngailo, and Manfred Michael Mapunda all work for the Vocational Education and Train ing Authority (VETA) while Erick Suitbert

Nkuna works for the Don Bosco Training Institute. They have now completed their courses and received the relevant training cer tificates. Local projects, local skills base The backdrop to the need for these types of welding skills is Tanzania’s bur geoning economy under pinned by its wealth of natural resources, includ ing oil, gas, and minerals. The development of these

Four students from Tanzania, Opodi Ezekiel, Patrick Bandali Ngailo, Manfred Michael Mapunda and Erick Suitbert Nkuna, have successfully completed the IIW International Welder (IW) course as part of the SAIW’s train-the-trainer programme.

is local welders are not qualified to par ticipate in the international projects that are taking place in Tanzania. Fortunately, by completing the IIW international welder course at the SAIW, we have gained the knowledge and skills necessary to train

resources is driving a growing demand for highly skilled welders. Tanzania, however, lacks the domestic capacity to meet this demand and is often forced to rely on for eign welders. Opodi Ezekiel explains; “The problem

Can professional welding engineers contribute more? This article by SAIW Honorary Life Member, Tony Paterson, calls for a certi fication system for South African welding engineers, based in a peer-review recognition system, in order to raise the status of Welding Engineers to global Professional standards.

I n an earlier contribution, I noted the inter-disciplinary nature of the welding sector. Welding is an enabling technology through which complex structures can be assembled from a relatively small number of standard shapes and flats. The boundary spanning role between disciplines falls to the welding engineer. This role is not often seen. The potential role of the Welding Engineer seems confined. Mark Twain apocryphally said: “I am in favour of progress. Its change I don’t like.” This underscores the human tendency to desire progress and growth without the hard work that comes with it. We have introduced internationally accredited theoretical training for Welding Engineers without any following initial or ongoing tests of competence or evaluations of appropriate experience. This surprises me as other countries do have such systems. Lo cally the approach developed by SAIW Certification for ISO 3844 to support major end users with initial and ongoing accreditation of

companies as competent at differing levels of fabrication is sensible. These are not rep licated for Welding Engineers. Why? I don’t understand the apparent omission. Professions are normally

registered as a means of protecting the public. Initial registration as competent requires an accredited theory course accompanied by structured experiential exposure, this, locally, regarded as part 3 of Engineering training. Part 1 covers the basic sciences, Years 1 and 2 of a degree; Part 2, the engineering specialty chosen, Years 3 and 4. Once a PrEng, always a PrEng is not the case. As the PrEng serves both to protect the public and to inform other professionals of competence within a specific skill area, ongoing involvement is monitored.

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March-April 2024

AFRICAN FUSION