Civil Engineering July 2022 | Vol 30 No 6

12 July 2022 Civil Engineering fast-tracking temporary augmentation schemes to match the demand within the space of 12 months. Neil brought with him knowledge and experience gained from seeing Durban through two major water crises. During one of these droughts, in the 1980s, dam levels dropped to an alarming 3% combined capacity and several industries were about to be shut down when Tropical Storm Domoina hit and filled the region’s dams in two days. “We were rationing people severely at that time and I learnt a lot of lessons which I was able to take to Cape Town. The Cape Town team was incredible to work with and it was so rewarding to see them take some of the lessons and use them to bring about change. They got through the crisis and did amazingly well, and they’ve built a resilient system as a result,” says Neil. Dr Gisela Kaiser, who was the Executive Director responsible for the CCT Water and Sanitation Department at the time, says that she counts on Neil as an exceptional engineer of the highest calibre, and a trusted advisor and mentor. “In a politically tumultuous environ- ment, Neil was engaged as an inde- pendent external expert to work with the CCT’s water and sanitation department from November 2017. While initially envisaged as a short-term assignment, it was extended on numerous occasions and, even now, Neil is still supporting Cape Town on the implementation of its water strategy as part of National Treasury’s Cities Support Programme,” says Gisela. “Not only is his technical knowledge and ability beyond reproach, but Neil has an array of remarkable interpersonal skills and characteristics. These softer skills provided not only thoughtful advice but also assisted me in rebuilding trust among various role players. Neil is a brilliant engineer, an effective communicator, sensitive to political nuance, innovative and resilient, as well as understated and humble,” she adds. Neil gives full credit to the CTT team, seeing himself as a catalyst working behind the scenes, encouraging them to do great things. THOUGHTS ON SA’S WATER AND SANITATION When asked his thoughts on the current state of water and sanitation in South Africa, Neil highlighted the National Water and Sanitation Summit held earlier this year to discuss the problems and solutions to providing water and sanita- tion to all South Africans. Minister of Water and Sanitation Senzo Mchunu has since put together a task team under the leadership of Dr Sean Phillips, the current Director General of the Department of Water and Sanitation. “At last we have an engineering professional in charge of an engineering function,” says Neil. “Until now that has been the big problem – that the national department was not leading; it was the sector leader in name only. There are very good people down in the engine room, but the leadership wasn’t there, and political decisions were being made to the detriment of the people.” Although the 2022 Blue and Green Drop reports have now been released, Neil lamented the loss of these reporting tools between 2013/14 and now, as well as the Municipal Strategic Self-Assessment (MuSSA). Non-reporting has meant that the state of the country’s water and sanita- tion infrastructure was not known. The MuSSA has not been performed since 2018 and, at that time, 40% of water services authorities rated themselves as being extremely vulnerable, while another 38% rated themselves as highly vulnerable (ranked against 18 criteria). Only 6% said they were at a low level of vulnerability. With Covid-19 having had a highly negative impact, Neil is concerned that the situation may have deteriorated significantly since 2018. “The situation is bad for a number of reasons. One is that the leadership and management capabilities are generally not what they should be, although there are a few exceptions. If you don’t have strong management, you can’t lead the team, you can’t make wise decisions and you can’t keep the political side of the equation at bay,” says Neil. The second problem he identifies is the loss of separation of powers between oversight and executive management. “The referee has become a player, and we have politicians dictating who to give contracts to. What should happen is that the Council sets the policy and ensures that the administration delivers.” He also argues that the managers of municipalities and utilities cannot simply be engineering professionals, because utilities are effectively large businesses that require business skills to run. “When I left EWS we had an annual turnover of around R6.5 billion, 600 000 customers and 3 000 staff. It is a big company, it just happens to be publicly owned, so you need to be able to manage people, customers and revenue. Unfortunately, many of the people running these institutions do not have the qualifications to do so, and we are seeing the impact of that.” Neil “Not only is his technical knowledge and ability beyond reproach, but Neil has an array of remarkable interpersonal skills and characteristics. These softer skills provided not only thoughtful advice but also assisted me in rebuilding trust among various role players. Neil is a brilliant engineer, an effective communicator, sensitive to political nuance, innovative and resilient, as well as understated and humble.” Neil being presented with the 2014 Stockholm Industry Water Award on behalf of eThekwini Water and Sanitation