Webster Ndodana, president and Graham Pirie, CEO of The South African Association of Consulting Engineers (SAACE) recently returned from a well attended 13th GAMA AGM and Convention in the historic town of Bagamyo in Tanzania. The Convention was hosted by The Association of Consulting Engineers, Tanzania (ACET) in collaboration with the Secretariat of the Group of Africa Member Associations (GAMA). SAACE currently performs the function of Secretariat to GAMA. The theme of the Convention was 'Networking and Regional Cooperation in Engineering Consultancy within AU/NEPAD Framework'. Ndodana commented: "Attending the GAMA Conference for the first time was a real eye opener for me and I strongly urge consultants to attend this very important networking event. GAMA provides a platform where we can discuss issues facing the African continent with engineers from a broad spectrum of countries facing similar challenges and to be able to learn from them."
The Convention was preceded by a meeting of the International Federation of Consulting Engineers' (FIDIC) task team responsible for the development of a strategy to assist GAMA to create a sustainable secretariat and to clarify the roles and functions of FIDIC with respect to GAMA and the constituent member associations. The outcome of this meeting was a decision to model the manner in which GAMA operates on a replica of FIDIC with respect to governance and decision making processes thus enabling it to address the current issues of continuity of office bearers interfering with the effectiveness of the organisation.
The Convention was well attended by South Africans who had 16 representatives of which three were speakers with subject matter ranging from Risk Management for Consulting Engineers presented by Jonathan Horn, Kwezi V3 and Ben Smith of Glenrand MIB to Arthur Taute, Vela VKE presenting 'Local Experience: An essential to good engineering practice. The object of the Convention was to investigate ways on how to galvanise African capacity in support of the development of the continent through networking and regional cooperation via NEPAD and prevent the continued marginalisation of African expertise. In support of this, the Business Integrity Management System (BIMS) training session and manual produced by FIDIC as an add on to an ISO 9001:2000 Quality Management System needs to be rolled out in order to fight corruption which is of concern and now a top priority of the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AFDB). Countries need to demonstrate good governance and non-compliant countries need to be monitored and blacklisted where necessary.
Delegates at the Convention were also treated to a tour of the historic town of Bagamoyo, which used to be the centre of the Slave Trade, was occupied by the Arabs in the 2nd Century, much later by German missionaries and after that occupied by the British. It also played host to Livingstone's body on its journey before being shipped to England for burial at Westminster Abbey. The locals of Bagamoyo are hospitable and friendly and the delegates were well looked after during the Convention.
The next GAMA Convention will be held in Botswana in 2007.
For more information contact the SAACE, 011 463 2022 or www.saace.co.za
| Tel: | +27 11 463 2022 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
| www: | www.cesa.co.za |
| Articles: | More information and articles about Consulting Engineers South Africa (CESA) |
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