The Higher Education Transformation Network (HETN) has raised concerns about an increase in the proliferation of what it calls “mentor-preneurs” in the South African engineering industry.

In a statement at the weekend‚ the HETN’s Hendrick Makaneta said “mentor-preneurs” – mostly members of the South African Institute of Civil Engineers (Saice) – “have abandoned their professional obligations of providing mentoring to black candidate engineers”.

Instead‚ they have “created a vibrant business niche of milking government coffers out of the mentoring fees that government is now paying as an incentive to encourage registered engineers to provide mentoring services to assist candidate engineers.”

These mentor-preneurs‚ Makaneta said‚ “are inherently unpatriotic and disloyal to the wellbeing of the country and are only interested in enriching themselves at the expense of the state”.

Saice – along with Afriforum and the Consulting Engineers of SA (Cesa) — also came under fire from the HETN for its criticism of the deployment of 35 Cuban engineers by the department of water affairs and the provincial government of the Free State.

Free State Premier Ace Magashule said the Cubans will mainly be involved in construction of government-subsidised settlements‚ houses‚ the provision of water‚ planning and project management‚ sewerage and bulk infrastructure basic services supply.

However‚ Saice CEO Manglin Pillay said last week that the Cuban engineers should not be allowed to practise in South Africa as they cannot be registered by the Engineering Council of SA (ECSA).

“They can also not mentor aspiring registrant graduate engineers in SA‚ according to a law created by the South African government — the Engineering Profession Act of 2000‚” Pillay said.

But‚ the HETN countered that the ECSA “has failed its statutory regulatory compliance enforcement role to ensure that municipalities employ requisitely qualified and professionally registered infrastructure officials in line with the Engineering Professions Act 46”.

“Contrary to being concerned about the poor state of municipal infrastructure asset management and service delivery‚ consulting engineers have largely failed to support efforts by the state aimed at encouraging their members to join the public sector or taking up engineering posts in poor provinces and municipalities where their engineering skills and experience are sorely needed‚” Makaneta said.

“Instead‚ the key interests of Saice and Cesa members have been largely the procurement and accumulation of large municipal engineering contracts and perpetuating the current status quo of dependency.”

Saice last week also said Cuban engineering practitioners are not recognised by the ECSA‚ to which South African engineering practitioners have to adhere‚ as Cuba is not a signatory to the Washington‚ Sydney or Dublin accords.

These accords are international agreements that govern engineering education and recognition and have a direct impact on South African engineers being sought after globally.

Pillay said he “would like to see the Cuban engineers sent back home”.

“The unfounded harpings by Afriforum‚ Cesa and Saice regarding the sidelining of South African engineers pales in the face of the selfish gatekeeping roles that Saice and Cesa members have been playing with regards to the perpetuation of the current poor state of municipal engineering services delivery‚” Makaneta said.