Chronicle Editor
Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Reporter
THE engagement of unregistered engineers is to blame for some shoddy road works and collapse of buildings in the country, an engineering expert has said.
The Dean of Faculty of Engineering at the National University of Science and Technology (Nust), Engineer Willard Goriwondo, said this in an interview on the sidelines of the Nust Inaugural Engineering Expo and Open Day last week.
He said there is rampant employment of unregistered engineers in various institutions, which is against the law.
“Another aspect that I wanted to talk about is the registration or licensing of engineering professionals. We have had cases where engineers have been blamed because there is a collapse of a building or potholes on the roads. It’s not in their making, there could be people who masquerade as engineers and are not licensed yet there is a law that governs that. Our thrust is to protect the safety of people. But if people are not licensed and are operating anywhere this will cause problems,” he said.
“It (employment of unregistered engineers) is rampant because the Engineering Council of Zimbabwe which is based in Harare is actually trying to go into organisations and check whether they are employing licensed engineers because employing someone who is not an engineer is actually an offence and the company and the individual are liable to a fine and prosecution.”
Eng Goriwondo said engineering is important to the development of the country’s infrastructure.
He said Nust is working with the British Royal Academy of Engineering to improve engineering standards in the country.
Eng Goriwondo said they have also engaged industrialists on ways to close the gap between industry and the academia.
“Our project was funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering. We are saying that let’s have industry-academia partnerships where we can have our junior staff seconded to industry so that they get the practical aspects of whatever they will be teaching in class. That way we can have our graduates being practical,” he said.
Eng Goriwondo appealed to industry to come on board in training of engineering students as no graduate can be a perfectionist without practical experience.
Industrialist Eng Mpi Ndebele said collaborations between Nust and industry are important. “This is what we need for the development of our economy. We need these kinds of events where industry and academia come together to have conversations. Let’s figure things out, how do we make an academic product relevant to industry because that is exactly what is going to stir the economy,” said Eng Ndebele.
The expo saw Nust students exhibiting some of their prototypes while high school pupils learnt about opportunities in the engineering industry. – @nqotshili
Online Reporter