Page 10 - SAICE book proof 2 LATEST JULY 2014

s a i c e

MESSAGE frOM ThE ChIEf EXECUTIVE OffICEr

The role of engineers and engineering is taken for granted by government and the general public. It is also start-
ing to become evident that the custodians of infrastructure, the engineers themselves, have underestimated the
role we play in the socio-economic development and the value we add to society, history and heritage.

Many millions of people travel to and from work daily, go to school and back safely, sleep soundly at night in
houses, hotels and other places of accommodation, receive clean drinking water and electricity, enjoy sanita-
tion and waste management services, travel comfortably on buses, taxis, aeroplanes and trains, enjoy food and
products that have traversed vast distances, and enjoy a stable economy.

Civil engineers make this happen.

South Africa has world-class engineers and consequently we produce world-class infrastructure. This fair portion
of the southernmost tip of Africa is a diverse country, not only in culture, history and our people, but also in ge-
ology and topography. This diversity has spurred engineering innovation; we have many firsts – the first rollcrete
dam, the largest water tower in the southern hemisphere to name only a couple. This book celebrates 110 years
of civil engineering excellence in South Africa. It is also a recognition and celebration of the skill, knowledge and
wisdom of the thousands of civil engineers that have practiced in our beloved country since the beginnings of
SAICE in 1903 in the Western Cape.

With recent announcements at the highest levels of government about infrastructure programs to the tune of
trillions of rands, it is evident that the country has adopted an economic development strategy based largely on
infrastructure, while we improve service delivery to our people.

SAICE has embarked on Civilution, which defines an era for engineering professionals to consider their roles in
the aspirations of an improved South Africa. As engineers we claim to be philosophers, strategists and problem
solvers; so what are we going to do differently in order to achieve these aspirations so that in the next 110 years
of SAICE’s existence, our successors are able to look back at the Civilution era and say of our current engineers
and their involvement in this time of building, ‘This was their finest hour’?

Manglin Pillay PrEng

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