“Powering your World: Setting the Stage, Women setting the Pace of Change”

Programme Director;
Distinguished guests;
Ladies and gentlemen;

Indeed, it brings us great pleasure to launch South Africa’s very first Public Public Partnership mentorship collaboration; the launch of our very own Women In Science and Engineering Initiative. Today’s conversation represents, by no uncertain terms, an achievement of a critical milestone as we commemorate the contribution of women towards building a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous society

Today we not only celebrate the historic role of our SOC in the making of ours, a new South Africa but affirm the role that women have played and continue to play in building industrial capabilities, particularly in helping build the prerequisite capacity to meet the demands of our economy.

Since inception, our SOC have played a strategic role in the industrialisation of the country and as key drivers of economic growth, as well as stimulants supporting the growth of key sectors such as mining and manufacturing. The fact that South Africa is a growing economy places much demand on the supply side of the value chain. The growing demands of our economy places even greater responsibility on our SOC to play a critical position as catalysts and key drivers. Our SOC have not only heeded to our calls to support the demands of a growing economy but continue in their efforts to leverage their own capabilities as catalysts in driving investment, localisation and industrialisation and transformation in the broader economy. Women have remained at the centre of our strategy to optimise SOC contribution in reshaping society. We recognize and appreciate, and in line with the aspirations of ordinary South Africans, SOC determination to enhance social value, as well as economic value.

Today is indicative of our shared commitment to promoting women into strategic roles in our SOC, particularly senior management positions wherein women take the driving-seats of not just their own personal development but the development of society at large.

We take this opportunity to reflect deeply about the value proposition of all our SOC to its women Engineers and Scientists; and the type of legacy that we, working together, intend to leave behind.

Currently, South Africa has 1 engineer for every 3100 people, compared to competitors like China, Brazil, Germany, Japan, UK and USA who have 1 engineer for every 130 – 320 people.

South Africa needs to produce more than 10 times more engineers in order to compete favourably with developed economies.

Whilst the growth of engineering graduates has doubled over the past ten years (between 2002 – 2012) from approximately 21000 to 43000, this growth is not enough to meet South Africa’s need for critical skills.

A little over 2000 engineers are qualifying every year at South African universities, despite the 10 000s who apply and enroll for first year degrees.
 
It is common cause that countries that industrialise and localise at rapid economic rates generally have higher engineer to population ratios. This ratio not only spurs economic growth but also determines the success of a country’s infrastructure development programme – this is particularly important to South Africa bearing in mind Government’s multi-billion rand investment in our Infrastructure Development Plan.

We note with even greater concern that the current profile of registered engineering professionals is neither balanced in terms of gender nor race either.

According to the ECSA database, there are approximately 34 000 registered professionals in South Africa of which more than 14 800 are registered professional engineers with a degree from a recognised university. Of this total, women constitute only 3%, whilst blacks comprise less than 12%.

This is not only a social and moral indictment on our part but makes a mockery of the struggle efforts of our struggle veterans like Lilian Ngoyi, Mam’ Winnie Mandela and the 20 000 women who marched in 1956 to enjoy equivalent freedoms.

These numbers make a mock of major efforts to create a new social tapestry of social values founded on the sacrosanct ideals of non-racism, non-sexism, democracy and prosperity for all. 
We must acknowledge, and unequivocally so, that all constitutional gains made since 1994 will be reduced to paper-work exercises if they do not translate into meaningful changes on the lived-experiences of ordinary women.
That is why as a Shareholder Ministry we have taken active steps to trigger a series of conversation with emerging and aspirant Women Engineers, Scientists and Researchers in South Africa.
It is precisely why we have prioritised the launch of our Women in Science and Engineering Mentorship Program in order to:

• Strengthen SOC initiatives in order to accelerate the supply of critical engineering and technical skills to the economy.
• Inspire Women professional engineers and scientists to demand their place in the world and to amplify their voices in a space that is traditionally and historically male.
• Trigger a conversation about the various ways in which we, working together, can catapult our women into the next level of contribution and success in building their careers.
• Together with Eskom, we recognise that whilst there are some successful women Engineers and Scientists at our SOC who could be role models for the next generation of women Engineers and Scientists, until today there has been no formal programme to mentor and develop younger women.

We recognise the benefits of a mentorship programme in helping young aspirant women self-actualise. Powerful things happen when women gather together to share experiences and best-practise in career pathing in an attempt to help each other forward.

We also believe that the initiative is a worthy investment that will yield socio-economic returns to SOC themselves.

We believe that the initiative will help our SOC develop a deeper understanding of employee needs – reflecting the required business mix in management.

The initiative will, no doubt, increase robustness and quality of decision making in senior management. It is common knowledge that broader range of leadership styles leads to better decisions on average. . A larger more diverse talent pool from which to select and promote will also increase the quality of leadership.

It is also common cause that a broader range of experiences makes for a more adaptable to increasingly uncertain environment. We trust that our Women in Science and Engineering Initiative will foster innovation and creativity – greater variety of problem solving approaches, perspectives and ideas.

Society is as strong as the sum of its individual parts. Women remain our most valuable parts. We are as strong as the women who lead us. African experience teaches us today that with women, together, we can do more.

We also intend to leverage our own capabilities to ensure that South Africa builds the prerequisite skills base it needs to meet the demands of a growing economy.

South Africa desperately needs Engineering and Science skills in order to revamp old plants and build new generators including Kusile and Medupi, which are set to be the world’s third- and fourth-largest coal-fired stations.

Transnet is expected to deliver on the requirements of its Market Demand Strategy (MDS), which is looking to grow the company’s volumes from 201 million tonnes per annum to over 350 million tonnes in just seven years. To increase the efficiency gained from the new and upgraded infrastructure as well as the new locomotives we rely on the highest quality standards of human capabilities.

South Africa desperately needs Engineers and Scientist that will help Municipalities and find solutions to service delivery needs  - the lack of housing, electricity, fresh water supply, treatment and process of waste water due to poor maintenance of equipment to mention but a fewer. Currently, over 80% of the country's 231 local municipalities do not have civil engineers, technologists or technicians. There are more than 1 000s vacancies for these skills at municipalities countrywide.

We need our best and finest minds, both men and women, who will ensure that we are able to upgrade our electricity transmission networks, as well as our ports, our railway networks so that we are able to meet the supply requirements of ever increasing demand.

We are pleased to say that our SOC have risen, and will continue to rise up, to fill the gap. Today, we are committing strategic capabilities in accelerating the development of competent and patriotic engineering and science professionals and to contribute in developing the prerequisite skills base. We expect to play a pivotal role in ensuring that we provide the economic and social infrastructure that will catapult South Africa into a new era of job-led growth
Bearing in mind that the private sector is no longer training engineers, technicians and artisans like they used to, our SOC have committed to playing a leading role in skills development and will be investing over R2.8 billion in training over the coming year.
Knowledge, skills development and human talent, more broadly, remains a critical strategic priority; critical in the making of ours, an equitable society belonging to all.

• In line with our transformation objectives, SOC wish to form part of the solution to:
• Produce a new Generation of Engineers, Scientists and Artisans of world-class pedigree committed to the dual tasks of localised industrialisation and transforming South African society as a whole
• Build centers of excellence, which serves the needs and interests of all of the people of South Africa, particularly marginalized groups upholding fundamental rights
• Redress past injustices in the provision of industrial training, providing industrial training of progressively high quality for aspirant learners
• Advance the democratic transformation of society at large and to the eradication of poverty and the economic well-being of society particularly. 
  We affirm our commitment to transforming the structure, culture and experience of the workplace.

We hold the strong view that women are not only just mothers and wives, but managers and decision-makers of a better society. They are not just child bearers and homemakers, but propaganists and leaders of a just, equal and caring society.
As a demonstration of our own commitment to our own within the Department, we have taken a very firm stance and ensured that women are represented at all levels of the organization, in particular in the executive. As you may know, over 70% of our Deputy Director-Generals are women. Exco comprises close to 50% of women representation, including SMS. Fifty-nine percent (59%) of our professional development programmes are targeted at women, a demonstration of our commitment towards building a new layer of women managers.  We have also committed 77% of our total training budget on women’s training.
The Department of Public Enterprises remains convinced that women should be champions of their own development and not merely recipients of government support, and this is a basic pillar of any development goals. By placing women and their needs in the broader context of development, national goals can and will be achieved. This, in essence, is the philosophy that should guide all women empowerment initiatives, as we attempt to build a better life for all.

We must also agree that though much has been done to improve the lives of women in South Africa, much more still needs to be done to promote gender equality and empowerment.

Top management positions are still held by men and most senior management jobs are in the hands of men. In Engineering and Science fields particularly, white elderly males continue to enjoy preference over young black women, particularly in contracting and and promotion decisions. Noting the low levels of recruitment and promotion in senior management, female Engineers and Scientists are likely to remain under-represented at this level for a while to come. It is interesting to note that the Western Cape is said to be the worst performing province in terms of race and gender in both government and the private sector, across every occupational level. We wonder why?
The Labour Force Survey (LFS) continues to record higher unemployment rates among women, compared to men. The unemployment rate for women remains higher than the national average. Surveys also confirm that discouraged work-seekers are predominantly women.
Employed women are still employed still in administrative and low paying positions, within traditional occupations. All too often women work as casual workers. Many women, especially black women, are also forced to work in the poorly paid and largely unregulated informal sector. A large percentage of these are either single breadwinners or the only breadwinner in households.
That is why our SOC are committed to honouring their dual mandate. Not only is it critical for us to ensure a critical mass of registered engineering and science professionals but we must persist in our efforts:  to strive in setting a high bar and in meeting our own equity targets.

Women need to be at the centre of our strategic discussions. Women need to be targeted in enrolment drives, targeted in recruitment and selection decisions, targeted in promotions. SOC need to understand key bottlenecks that prohibit career mobility and issues throughout talent and HR pipeline and processes.

Most importantly, our women Engineers and Scientists should not be reduced to just “pretty faces” but their voices should find significant place in our strategic decisions in how best to drive the economy. The voices of women should be amplified. The voices of our women Engineers and Scientists matter just as much, now even moreso at that.
As Government, we continue working on strategies to empower women Engineers and Scientists by setting critical skills bursary schemes, setting high equity targets. Equity targets should not represent ceilings for women but should reflect our commitment to going beyond what is minimally required of us.
We know very well that our success, and the success of our SOC, will be judged in terms of our ability to level out the playing fields. We will be judged on our ability to create a work environment wherein women too are permitted to take their place as leaders and co-creators.
That is why government remains committed to responding to the pressing needs of women in South Africa, young women and the girl-child in particularly.
Former President Nelson Mandela once said in 1994; “Freedom cannot be achieved unless women have been emancipated from all forms of oppression. (That) the objectives of the reconstruction and development programme will not have been realised unless we see in visible practical terms that the condition of women in our country have radically changed for the better, and that they have been empowered to intervene in all aspects of life as equals with any other member of society”
These words are true today because if we are to succeed in building an equal society, women must join arms and work together to end gender-based parities, starting in our very own SOC.
So come on. Together, let us BREAK THE PATTERNS OF OLD. Let us respond to this clarion call, which demands action.

It’s time for us to have our very own firsts.

It’s time for us to unleash our very own women Lillian Gilbreth - considered a pioneer in the field of time-and-motion studies, showing industrialists how to increase efficiency and production through budgeting of time, energy, and money.
 
It’s time for us to reproduce again and again, and at larger scale, our very own Neil Alden Armstrong – who became the first man to walk on the moon on July 20, 1969.

It’s time for us to unlock our very own mechanical engineers who will lead us into new paradigms of industrial revolution in the coming decades, allowing for the upscale of economies of scale with much equitable rewards.

Let’s gather together! Let’s get involved! Let’s diagnose problems! Let’s develop strategies and form coalitions, together, to effect socio-economic change.
Let’s optimize value by contributing towards a new Generation of professional able to bring lasting changes in the communities from where we come. 
Let us rally together in creating a generation of new legacies. Ours truly is to reproduce a new generation of problem-solvers, committed to the patriotic cause, working in partnership with other social institutions to address society’s problems; developing solutions of lasting public value.
We want to take you to the moon so you can take South Africa to the moon; having captured her aspirations and captivated her to the beginning of new days.

Wathinta Umfazi wathinta imbokodo!!

Working together we can do more.

I thank you.