Civil Engineering January/February 2021 | Vol 29 No 1

Civil Engineering January/February 2021 7 THE SAICE 2021 PRESIDENTIAL TEAM Josh Padayachee Vice-President Director: Bridges and Buildings Naidu Consulting josh.padayachee@naiduconsulting.com Prof Chris Roth Vice-President Department of Civil Engineering University of Pretoria chris.roth@up.ac.za AndrewClothier Vice-President Executive Associate JG Afrika (Pty) Ltd clothiera@jgafrika.com Growing Forward Together Vishal Krishandutt President Technical Director and KZN Regional Office Manager Nyeleti Consulting (Pty) Ltd vkrishandutt@nyeleti.co.za Prof Marianne Vanderschuren President-Elect Department of Civil Engineering University of Cape Town marianne.vanderschuren@uct.ac.za completed his matric and hopes to pursue a career in IT. As a family they enjoy going out to dinners, movies and travelling. “We have been lucky as we were recently able to visit the USA as a family and enjoy the sights and sounds of this beautiful country. We have previously visited Europe, Dubai and Australia as a family and have enjoyed every minute of it,” reports Vishal. LEADING IN THE TIME OF COVID-19 Like previous SAICE president Fana Marutla, Covid-19 has proved a disruption to Vishal’s term of office. The dangers of the virus are well- known to Vishal, whose entire family tested positive for Covid-19 at the beginning of January this year. While his children were asymptomatic, both Vishal and Ashmal were admitted to hospital and placed on oxygen. “We were lucky to recover, so I take this pandemic very seriously and as much as I would have liked to travel to the branches and host many of the SAICE events in person, this will have to be delayed until the pandemic is under control,” he says. Vishal will still reach out to members through webinars and live streaming events. “I hope that by the second half of the year I will be able to travel more and meet with our members at the different corners of the country, however it will be a wait and see approach. Rest assured there will be some engagement.”  Vishal and his family at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, USA