Ali Naidu, SAICE’s 107th president, was inaugurated during an exuberant event at the CSIR in Pretoria on 17 March. Ali presented his message for 2010 civil engineering South Africa, “An African Engineer’s View”, to the rapt audience.
“The eyes of Africa’s engineer see his world differently from visitors. He sees the needs and desires of the people. Basic services are what this continent demands, and much of this is dependent on the availability of financial and economic resources. The African engineer has to skill up, whilst he is challenged with the lack of suitable feed stock from grass roots. He has to develop capacity and skills. He has to operate and manage at the business corporate level. At the same time, address non-engineering considerations and advise government on infrastructure and industrial plans. He has to be socially and morally conscious of his obligation to serve his people without compromise.”
Click here for Ali Naidu’s full presidential address.
The event took place as part of the Engineering Planet Future Convention
The 2009 event was sponsored by:
On 19 February, Professor Elsabé Kearsley was inaugurated as the president of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) for 2009, during the SAICE-Lafarge Inaugural Event and Presidential Address held at the prestigious The Forum on The Campus in Bryanston. Guests at this dazzling event toasted Kearsley’s success at becoming the second woman in the SAICE’s 107-year existence to be elected to this select office. Furthermore she is the first woman to hold the post of Head of the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Pretoria.
In her inaugural address, “Engineering a Better Future’, Kearsley highlighted the changed environment in which civil engineering professionals find themselves, the engineer of the future and the ability to stay relevant.
“I believe that a large part of the changing environment around us, as civil engineering professionals, has to do with increased access to information and how to deal with it in a professional manner. The fact that you can download information from the internet does not necessarily mean that you are capable of designing civil engineering Infrastructure!” The following has been said of development in the field of engineering: One has to watch out for engineers - they begin with the sewing machine and end up with the atomic bomb. - - Marcel Pagnol, Critiques des Critiques.
Although South African engineers have always been highly regarded internationally, many problems have been solved through the sheer creativity of locally trained experts. South Africa undertakes about 0,5% of global research. To date the civil engineering community has been very slow at investing in research and the time is ripe for the industry as a whole to develop a collective approach to support research and development.
“We can make a difference and every one of us has to ensure that our profession obtains and retains the status it deserves. As civil engineering practitioners we need to ensure that we promote the understanding of civil engineering by ensuring that all decision-makers know exactly what the extent of the contribution of civil engineering is in any modern civilization.”
Click here for the complete inaugural address.
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For more information please contact Zina Girald at the SAICE National Office on 011 805 5947 or zgirald@saice.org.za
Previous Presidential addresses:
Presidential Address 2008: Johan de Koker's "Growing together as an Institution"
Presidential Address 2007: Neil Macloed's "A time of opportunity for Civil Engineering in South Africa"
Presidential Address 2006: Sam Amod's "The Ecology of Construction"
Presidential Address 2005: Mike Deeks's "Safety in Numbers for Construction"
Presidential Address 2004: Ron Watermeyer's "The Sustainable Lifestyle: Our Responsibility for the 21st Century"