Civil Engineering May 2021 | Vol 29 No 4

CEO’ s Corner This article serves to unpack the concept and value of relation- ships. The notion is that relationships matter in our daily lives – our relationship with ourselves, a person, a team, clients, our community and our nation. This article focuses on the profes- sional relationships we may have at the industry level. Incidents in recent weeks highlighted what I would consider a significant disconnect between SAICE and some departments of government. Comments made suggest that SAICE does not have a meaningful relationship with the government department in question. To progress the mandate of the institution and govern- ment alike, both entities must promote a healthy professional relationship at an industry level to give effect to our Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan (ERRP). This article focuses on reminding civil engineers to work at building meaningful relationships with colleagues across the sec- tors, disciplines and civil society we serve. We have to contribute positively to create a new social order. Imagine a South Africa that does not have social unrest. THE ROLE OF SOCIAL COMPACTS We must adopt a social mindset as a minimum to be able to work as a collective. As a professional association we need to form compacts at an industry level. Should we succeed, we will have adopted a collectivist mindset in addressing the urgent need to grow our economy in unison. It further supports our drive to enhance our professionalism in support of the initiatives seeking to advance professionalising the public service. Social compacting can be understood as an implicit agree- ment between the government and the governed. The “governed” can be understood to include societal groups such as business, labour and communities. Although the compact may be implicit, it does have to define and limit the rights and duties of each party to make for an effective compact. The compact creates obligations of parties aiming to form a better society within which we live. Social compacts are not new and are a common practice in Europe, for example, that co-incidentally has more egalitarian societies. These compacts have focused on collaboration, corporatist framework and societal well-being achieved between business, government and labour. Maturity in collaboration has given rise to political equilibrium in what is referred to as a socio- political economy, much along the lines of what we would like to see happen in South Africa. This implicit dynamic agreement indicates how we choose to live together. As it applies to South Africa, we need to agree on how we grow our economy. Such agreements can be narrowed further to be called pacts between stakeholders agreeing on specific sectoral issues. SAICE will craft such pacts in the form of memoranda of understanding (MOUs) to ensure that we con- tribute to the agreed initiatives supporting our members in so far as it applies to employment, training and development, capacity building, technology contribution, and knowledge creation, while promoting a robust project pipeline. As it pertains to South Africa, the building of “just” socie- ties is not a natural outcome of economic development and investments. The society we wish to have will be created by institutions, laws, policies and practices that govern our society. Social compacts define, by agreement, the society we wish to have. Therefore, institutions have to create quality jobs, decent wages and fair working conditions. Policies must also 6 May 2021 Civil Engineering Social compacting: A key success factor in progressing our Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan As it pertains to South Africa, the building of “just” societies is not a natural outcome of economic development and investments. The society we wish to have will be created by institutions, laws, policies and practices that govern our society. Social compacts define, by agreement, the society we wish to have.