The SAIMC is gaining recognition in new circles
Your servant-leaders, who are now growing in number, are helping raise the profile of the organisation. At the recent ECSA Presidents Council meeting, the SAIMC was complimented on its transformation to a more representative body in the context of the country’s current challenges. The SAIMC was further invited to nominate members to serve on the various ECSA committees which are undergoing radical transformation. Thank you to all our hardworking councillors and branch committee members who have made this possible.
With the impending implementation of the ‘Identification of Engineering Work’ legislation, we encourage all members of our industry to ensure that they get registered with ECSA as soon as possible. This will provide you with national recognition as well as a competitive advantage over your peers when the legislation becomes effective.
We have been honoured with a request by two other voluntary organisations to engage with them regarding co-operation on different issues in our industry. One is a large local organisation and the second is an international organisation. We will keep our members updated on these developments as we finalise agreements in the coming months. This is a sure sign that the SAIMC is now being recognised as a serious contributor to the engineering space in SA and abroad!
We hope such cooperation agreements will help us grow this organisation further and accelerate our execution of the business plan. Such recognition will also assist us with our ambition of getting recognition for Automation and Control as the 10th Engineering discipline in the next few years.
I am happy to report that our various sub-committees are now fully functional and have elected their chairpersons and other functional positions. We will be getting the first reports from them on their strategies and priorities for the year ahead at our Council meeting later this month. There is very exciting work being done by the Technical Standards Committee, led by Gary Friend, and this relates to close cooperation with SABS. We will announce the details of this once we have finalised all the arrangements.
Johan Maartens, our loyal SAIMC servant, has been hard at work again on the Education and Training committee and he needs more volunteers to assist with the massive portfolio he has been leading for a number of years now. Johan and his team are investigating various options to assist our tertiary institutions to produce a uniform standard of graduates. The SAIMC is looking at providing post-graduate training to help employers in our industry find high calibre individuals during the hiring process. This training will also ensure proper professional development for members of our industry and international recognition of their skills.
The PR committee is hard at work on finalising our Gala Dinner for October this year. With the event living up to its billing as the ‘Premier event on the C&I calendar’, we are ensuring that we exceed the expectation of our valuable guests again this year. We will be providing details very soon and there will once again be plenty of sponsorship opportunities, gifts, laughs and networking! You will need to buy your tickets well in advance as they were sold out within a few weeks last year.
As mentioned last month, our branches and council are in full swing arranging golf days, site visits and annual functions. Please watch the pages of this magazine and our Industry Calendar for further info. Please email [email protected] for your events to be loaded onto our Industry Calendar.
We are also still looking for members to join our various sub-committees, so please come forward and volunteer your expertise and time!
Please email me your thoughts on [email protected], so council and I can serve you better.
Working together, achieving more,
Vinesh Maharaj, President.
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