Deputy President Paul Mashatile has called on engineers to take their position in helping government tackle infrastructure challenges that have been made worse by inclement weather patterns.
He delivered a keynote address at the 9th United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Africa Engineering Week that got under way today with an engineering conference at the CSIR Convention Centre in Pretoria.
The 9th UNESCO Africa Engineering Week and 7th Africa Engineering Conference is taking place under the theme “Celebrating and Growing Engineering Excellence in the African Region” and seeks to celebrate engineering excellence prevalent in the African continent. pic.twitter.com/FHt0IaQvQb
— Paul Mashatile (@PMashatile) September 25, 2023
South Africa has experienced disasters linked to inclement weather condition and an energy crisis which engineers believe through collaboration and skills development could be a thing of the past.
The Deputy President agrees and says education and skills development in the sector will also be critical.
“We must inspire and empower the next generation of engineers by instilling passion for science, technology, and engineering and mathematics in our youth. We need to change the mindset of Africans by training them to create African solutions for African problems. This way we may involve establishing specialized engineering training programs tailored to the continent’s unique challenges.”
Paul Mashatile urges engineers to address infrastructure challenges over weather patterns:
