Construction World April 2017

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Transformation in the built environment – IN BLACK & WHITE It is a misnomer that racial and related economic transformation in the civil engineering and construction sector is not happening. The numbers tell a different story.

By South African Institution of Civil Engineering

white architectural professionals between 2012 and March 2016. There is a general decrease in the number of both black and white registrants at SACAP from 2014 to March 2015. This is probably due to the lack of architectural project roll-out from the public sector. The gap difference between the race groups, however, has narrowed over the past five years, with 266 black and 332 white professionals registering in 2016. The South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) With some 13 000 members, it is the largest engineering voluntary association in South Africa. SAICE CEO, Manglin Pillay, another professionally registered engineer, states that more than 45% of SAICE’s membership is black. Taking into account South Africa’s history before 1994, Pillay explains, “A more accurate measure of transformation is found in that almost 70% of SAICE’s membership under the age of 36 is black.” Pillay commends the public sector for driving the transformation agenda through policy. He also divulges, “The irony of Government’s plea for transformation in the sector is that most Black engineering graduates are employed in municipalities, national and provincial government and in state-owned enterprises. “But it is in the public sector that coaching, mentoring and technical engineering supervision – which are critical components for the training and development of engineers – are lacking.” Many local and district municipalities only have junior staff, few of them adequately developed. Many of these are indeed classified as struggling municipalities. As Pillay says, “This is the real challenge. It is not about black and white any longer, it is all about experience and inexperience.” Pillay comments further, “The sector has

Government has consistently invested more than 7% of GDP annually on infrastructure development over the past eight years, and promises of injections of trillions of rands into future infrastructure initiatives – all to realise the objectives set out in South Africa’s National Infrastructure Plan (2012), together with the New Growth Path (2010) that promised to create five million jobs in 10 years, the National Development Plan and other initiatives. This clearly indicates that the ANC- led administration has embarked on an infrastructure development plan for the overall socio-economic development strategy of South Africa. In doing so, the prospect for racial and radical economic transformation remains opportune. How then has the sector been performing until now? The data shows steady growth in the number of black built environment practitioners in South Africa. Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) Data from ECSA, the organisation entrusted with protecting the health and safety of the public by registering engineering professionals, shows that the number or registrants of black engineering practitioners increased from 35% to 46% in all categories from 2011 to March 2016, compared to a drop from 65% to 54% for White practitioners in the same period. In that time, 9 194 black professionals registered with ECSA, compared to 2 225 white professionals. It is well-known in the industry that ECSA and its CEO, Sipho Madonsela, a registered engineer himself, are positive about the

level of transformation over the past years, and especially among the young people, including females, from disadvantaged backgrounds — as seen in the figures above. These include engineers, technologists and technicians. Madonsela also reported that in 2016, for the first time in the history of ECSA, the number of registered engineering practitioners reached more than 50 000. ECSA can be proud of the visible effects of registration seen in the industry. South African Council for the Project and Construction Management Professions (SACPCMP) The SACPCMP registered 1 264 black construction project management professionals since 2008. Of the total number registered in 2008 (3 276) only 26% (841) were black and 74% (2 435) white. These figures in 2016 (4 364), however, show a significant increase to 48% (2105) for black and decrease to 52% (2 259) for white. The SACQSP registered 939 black quantity surveying professionals since 2011. Of the total number registered in 2011 (3 049), 39% (1 193) were black and 61% (1 856) white. These figures in 2016 (3 982), however, show a significant increase to 54% (2 132) for black and a decrease to 46% (1 850) for white. South African Council for the Architectural Profession (SACAP) The SACAP registered 2 400 black and 3 600 South African Council for the Quantity Surveying Profession (SACQSP)

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CONSTRUCTION WORLD APRIL 2017