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were short of civil engineers, technologists and technicians, with
28% of municipalities having no in-house civil engineering capacity at all.
The key recommendations were to rebuild structures rather than embark
on further restructuring, and to professionalise rather than politicise the
appointment of technical sta!.
Ten years later, the latest census of civil engineering capacity has shown
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of experienced sta! has reduced, the average age having dropped to

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technicians, and in some instances technologists. In municipalities that
previously had no civil engineering sta!, systems and processes were not
in place in terms of planning, budgeting for, developing, operating and
maintaining infrastructure, and there are no experienced supervisors to
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to design and implement the necessary systems and processes.
There is an urgent need to implement a policy and system to develop
existing municipal engineering sta!, which includes training courses and
workshops associated with activities in the municipal calendar, combined
with assignments associated with the actual work to be done. It
is suggested that a programme of action learning should be rolled out
to develop existing sta! and empower them to develop the systems and
procedures that need to be implemented.
A massive campaign needs to be mounted to "nd experienced engineers
who are willing to return to, or be seconded to, local government as
strategists, supervisors and coaches for a period, to assist with rebuilding
such systems and supporting candidates in their growth as professionals.
Furthermore, it is once again time to campaign for the introduction
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post to ensure that structures are populated with suitably skilled
sta!. Systems, processes and organograms that support career paths and
professional development should be redeveloped, linked with technical
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operated and maintained