Transformation of South African Civil Engineering Consultancies: the Response of Some Established Civil Engineering Consultancies to Transformation

Shorttitle A generic scorecard set targets for five different measures, being: ? % equity owned by Black people ? % management positions filled by Black people (Management Target) ? 5 turnover spent on skills development ? % Black staff ? % turnover contributed to assist other emerging companies to become sustainable, The lack of sufficient numbers of trained and experienced professional engineers,noted as a particular constraint in the charter process (SAACE, 2004a, p1), has been examined as part of this investigation. It is clear that transformation targets cannot be met by established consultancies using traditional ownership models. Current changes in the number of black students hold out the possibility that these targets could be attained in the future, but the absolute lack of qualified experience black engineers is a constraint that cannot be immediately overcome. Transformation targets be changed to focus on creating experienced and competent black engineers, rather than on meeting generic transformation targets for equity and management, and so provide a longer term view on transformation of this industry.