ACDP raises concern that institutional knowledge in Water Affairs Department can be lost

MEDIA RELEASE
Cheryllyn Dudley MP
21 May 2013

ACDP raises concern that institutional knowledge in Water Affairs Department can be lost

·        Welcomes 3rd Regional Southern African Young Water Professionals Conference


“The ACDP notes the 3rd Regional Southern African Young Water Professionals Conference will take place at the University of Stellenbosch in the Western Cape in July this year. The conference aims to further career development and young professional capacities, encouraging discourse on current and future water concerns.  We welcome this initiative.

Hon Minister, I heard you briefly mention recruiting 160 people, which sounds like a move in the right direction.  Is it true that most engineers in the Department of Water Affairs are in their late 50’s and early 60’s - with very few younger engineers to pass institutional knowledge on to.  Even if engineers are employed now, I am told it will take a minimum of ten years - 15 to 20 years ideally - to adequately transfer skills - so unless experienced engineers come back after 65 the institutional knowledge we do have will be lost.  For experienced engineers to continue after the age of 65 it may be necessary to give contracts longer than 2 years and for the decision to be taken at department rather than Ministerial level.  Do we have relevant incentives in place to entice mature expertise to stay and mentor others?  Of course, first – ‘others’ must be employed – do we have bursaries in place and are they enough to attract young people into this field – are we head-hunting outside South Africa?

Because personnel from level 13 upwards are subject to Ministerial approval and a noticeable lack of in-depth scientific knowledge and skills is evident - the perception exists - that skills and expertise are not the primary criteria in these appointments!  What are we doing to change this perception?

Has the department considered that a barrier to attracting skills could be the fact that there are only two ranks for engineers: production and chief engineer – there used to be four – providing greater opportunity for recognition and promotion!  I am told it can take 36 years to get to the top on the present system which disadvantages existing staff in relation to newcomers.  In years gone by chief engineers had 25 years or more experience - a new entrant to chief engineer now only needs six years’ experience – this can be demoralizing for existing staff with more experience.

Hon Minister, what is the situation regarding salaries presently – how competitive are they compared to the private sector say – in on province, after advertising for production level engineers for 18 months they were unable to attract a single engineer with professional status.

Not so long ago we were told 90 municipalities did not have a single professional water engineer, and very few had written operating procedures – The ACDP welcomes the new focus on correcting this situation.

We also welcome the increased number of conditional grants to better target problems at Provincial and Local levels.

The ACDP previously raised concerns that we had not budgeted adequately for urgently finding much needed expertise in the area of reservoir & lake management to prevent polluted dams deteriorating further – do we have tertiary courses on this subject yet?

Lastly water management seems to be provided for only in the short term but we note with interest - research published in March this year detailing how technology, developed at the University of Witwatersrand in conjunction with a professor from NASA in the US, could be used to clean contaminated water flowing from metal mines which cause ecological harm and compromise human and animal health. Last year, the Mpumalanga town of Carolina lost its municipal water supply when acid mine water polluted its dam.

The ACDP will support this budget of which much will be expected.”


For more information contact Cheryllyn Dudley, MP, 082 890 6520 (SMS best for urgent response)

Media enquiries: Keeno Petersen, Media Liaison Officer, ACDP - Parliament, Tel: 021-403-3307 or Email: kpetersen@parliament.gov.za