Collapsing infrastructure is one of those searing topics of conversation at weekend gatherings nowadays.
And thanks to that uninvited but persistent guest with the double-barrelled name (load-shedding), participants are likely to vent their angst around a meal being prepared over hot coals. The conversations are seasoned with first-hand accounts of hitting potholes, faulty traffic lights and unresponsive officials who earn salaries to fix these problems. Tales of frustration and exasperation.
SA has made great strides since the 1994 advent of democracy in delivering economic and social infrastructure, so what went wrong, we ask?
“Infrastructure is not coping with normal demand and is poorly maintained. It is likely that the public will be subjected to severe inconvenience and even danger without prompt action,” is the dire warning in the latest infrastructure report card published by the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE). Simply put, the gains we made previously have not been effectively sustained.
Civil engineers entrusted to conceive, design, build and maintain the nation’s infrastructure assets are, the report points out, the custodians of the built environment. That’s why the government, provincial administrations and city authorities should pay close attention to these engineers — on a scale from A (being world class) to E (unfit for purpose) — give the country an overall infrastructure rating of D (infrastructure is not coping with normal demand and is poorly maintained). This is the worst grade given by SAICE since their first infrastructure report in 2006, which the report noted was cause for “grave concern”.
“Since our first report in 2006, the condition of infrastructure has been in steady decline ... much of our infrastructure is edging closer to failure.” Broadly speaking, with the exception of energy generation, “economic infrastructure remains in a satisfactory condition — even those assets that have deteriorated, such as heavy freight rail and airports, maintain grades of B (fit for the future) or C (satisfactory for now).
“However, the further degradation of social infrastructure paints a dismal picture of the plight that ordinary people face to access basic services of water, sanitation, health, education, public transport and electricity. Altogether, the situation cries out for urgent and sustained attention,” reads the report.
Further degradation of social infrastructure paints a dismal picture of the plight that ordinary people face to access basic services of water, sanitation, health, education, public transport and electricity.
— SAICE report
Economic infrastructure makes business activity possible and includes, among others, communication, bulk transport and energy supply systems. Social infrastructure meets basic needs and includes drinking water, sanitation, hospitals, schools and public transport, explains the report.
We should be worried.
Residents of small towns, often hardest hit by failing infrastructure, have reached the point of desperation. Fed up and frustrated, communities have rallied together to fix what they can using, in the case of one not-for-profit organisation, their own brand of “Gatvol Mix” tar to repair potholes. Their motto is “stop complaining, do good, work together”. This sort of community action, often with the blessing of and under the guidance of floundering local authorities, is a welcome initiative.
But these interventions, while commendable, are simply not nearly enough to tackle the enormity of the task at hand when we read almost daily about infrastructure crumbling, for example, threatening basic needs of whole communities such as the provision of clean drinking water.
Such a task requires ironclad political will that goes way beyond an empty election promise, dedication by all involved in the value chain, funding, innovative partnerships, skills and expertise. “SA, and especially its public service, faces a debilitating shortage in engineering skills. It is rare to find a municipality that is blessed with a full complement of qualified and experienced personnel in its technical organigram,” cautions the report. And with developed economies targeting infrastructure development as a catalyst for growth post the global pandemic, well-trained and experienced SA engineers are attractive targets for recruitments.
It also goes without saying there will be little progress if our government and local authorities are mired in the endemic corruption that has decimated the public purse.
The report is bristling with information on the state of various sectors including water, sanitation, solid waste management, ports, airports, electricity, education and health care (where hospitals and clinics are grappling with inadequate budgets, staff shortages, supply chain and administrative issues resulting in poor infrastructure). It’s not all doom and gloom. A significant number of institutions continue to “perform well and are improving”. One example was the SA National Roads Agency (Sanral), which continued to excel in roadbuilding and the management of the network under its care, while absorbing some of the provincial and regional road network in a poor condition.
Our plea to government, provincial administrations and municipalities is simple — act decisively and act now to halt the slide down what could be a slippery slope to social unrest and, ultimately, a failed state.
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