Easy ride for Zim architects, quantity surveyors

Easy ride for Zim architects, quantity surveyors A decision to grant 29 Zimbabwean architects and quantity surveyors exemption from professional competence examinations has been met with outrage.

Works and transport minister Alpheus !Naruseb recently wrote to the Namibia Council of Architects and Quantity Surveyors, requesting that the registration process be expedited, paving the way for the group to register with the council faster than usual.





!Naruseb said he had been advised to seek an exemption of the 29 Zimbabwean nationals.

“Please be informed that I have been advised to exempt the persons from registrations for the professions of architect and quantity surveyor,” wrote !Naruseb.

“Kindly expedite the process of including on your register the persons whose names appear mentioned Government Gazette.”

The 29 are however expected to sit on a date yet to be established.

“Considering that the registrations are in force for the duration of each person's contract of employment, I hereby direct Council to facilitate for those on the list who in future will satisfy Council requirements to sit for Assessment for Professional Competence examinations,” said !Naruseb.

According to him, the exemption is with immediate effect and expires when the contract of employment of such persons with the Ministry of Works and Transport expires according to the Gazette dated 17 March 2017.

Asked to provide clarity, !Naruseb referred the matter to his permanent secretary, Willem Goeiemann.

When contacted for comment, Goeiemann said his ministry would be issuing a statement on the matter in due course.

“We will issue a press statement, I am not going to comment on anything,” said Goeieman.

Evat Kandongo of Consulting Services Africa expressed dissatisfaction at the exemption, saying that it did not favour young architects and quantity surveyors.

“It is not fair on our young Namibian professionals. If there is a system, I see no reason why people should get special treatment. It does not make sense to me,” Kandongo said in response to the development.

He also questioned the ministry's decision to seek faster registration of the 29 expatriates.

The Namibian Society of Engineers recently made an appeal to the Ministry of Works and Transport not to renew or extend Zimbabwean engineers' five-year contracts, which were entered into under a memorandum of understanding between the two countries in 2012.

Early in June, it was reported that the ministry had given a three-month contract extension to the 85 expatriates employed there. It stated that it still had to decide whether these contracts would be renewed or not.

The secretary-general of NASE, Rachel Kakololo, said it was not clear why the ministry would consider a renewal of these contracts, since there were qualified and professionally registered Namibians who were unemployed and not given opportunities to be considered for the same jobs at the ministry.

“What government lacks in technical professions is not manpower. That was 15 years ago, not today. It lacks practical and strategic planning,” the organisation said.

OGONE TLHAGE