Eskom must get rid of thousands of skilled whites, including white engineers

[AlphaBravo]

The real problem in Eskom and with BEE in general:

"The other day on the radio a former Eskom employee described what working at Eskom was like . She described how countless people would sit around all day not knowing what to do, with little enthusiasm for doing any form of work. To address the lack of skills, employees were regularly sent on training courses but often large numbers of people didn’t pitch up for the training and no disciplinary action was taken against them either. There were even cases of employees playing golf during office hours and likewise nothing ever happened to them either. White qualified managers and engineers were replaced with the new cadres who were so out of their depth, that it was not even funny. Whenever a difficult decision needed to be taken, the logical response was to postpone it. There was (and probably still is) a total absence of proper project management and planning and an appreciation for the bigger picture. Getting paid at the end of the month was the sole and only objective. After a few years, she couldn’t stand this soul destroying circus any longer and she resigned. "

(Comment on a Moneyweb article)

Although I know some seriously busy hardworking clever guys doing all they can to keep the lights on. I doubt if they will be replaced, not very soon if at all. Eskom is still profitable, even with all this 'deadwood'. Now I suppose it is no surprise why the unions and government don't want privatise it...

 

[Durandal]

The real problem in Eskom and with BEE in general:

"The other day on the radio a former Eskom employee described what working at Eskom was like . She described how countless people would sit around all day not knowing what to do, with little enthusiasm for doing any form of work. To address the lack of skills, employees were regularly sent on training courses but often large numbers of people didn’t pitch up for the training and no disciplinary action was taken against them either. There were even cases of employees playing golf during office hours and likewise nothing ever happened to them either. White qualified managers and engineers were replaced with the new cadres who were so out of their depth, that it was not even funny. Whenever a difficult decision needed to be taken, the logical response was to postpone it. There was (and probably still is) a total absence of proper project management and planning and an appreciation for the bigger picture. Getting paid at the end of the month was the sole and only objective. After a few years, she couldn’t stand this soul destroying circus any longer and she resigned. "

(Comment on a Moneyweb article)

Not the first time I've heard this. Obviously there is a lot of hard work being done by those in the crucial areas to help keep the lights on, but there was comment previously by someone who had dealings with Eskom saying that all he saw were endless numbers of 'management' employees wandering around with tablets in their hands and clearly no idea of what exactly they should be doing next. Cull the useless staff, regardless of colour, but FFS, cutting back on engineers for no reason other than that they are white is just ridiculous.

Wait. What am I saying? Stupid me, this is just yet another South African SNAFU, so it shouldn't surprise me.

 

[HideInLight]

We should start demanding a BEE increase of 20% for whites. So that 2/10 becomes acceptable.

At least white people won't be nothing but tokens anymore.

 

[Gatecrasher]

Helen Zille raises an interesting point, obviously much to the disgust of all those who don't like the truth, surely the employment demographic should reflect the graduation demographics of engineers and not society as a whole?!

If there are few blacks registering, and qualifying, as engineers then how can you expect 90% of those employed to be black?

Yes, the counter argument of populist politicians would be to ask why the are so few black engineering graduates but you don't find a solution to that by forcing employment of those less qualified! You do the hard yards and improve education and opportunities. Much the same with sport quotas.

News item in Grahamstown recently: The discontinuation of Physical Science at a local high school due to a combination of lack of interest among students and a lack of teaching capacity. Physical Science students will learn History instead.

 

[Nick333]

News item in Grahamstown recently: The discontinuation of Physical Science at a local high school due to a combination of lack of interest among students and a lack of teaching capacity. Physical Science students will learn History instead.

Haha. Very apt. At least they'll be able to justify AA/BEE from a historical perspective.

We are fccked.

 

[krycor]

There is not enough skilled workers to do that work. This is something you can learn from any Government parastatal. In fact, from a number of businesses as well.

The HUGE problem with Engineering in South Africa is almost not entirely a lack of graduating engineers in the pipeline.. but rather keeping them in the profession. To put it quite bluntly, why the hell would anyone want to be an engineer these days when there are 'nicer' ways to earn a living particularly in IT where engineering skills rocks. This goes the same with a few other sectors in the economy where engineers are just plainly paid a hell of a lot better doing something completely different instead of sitting on their a$$ trying to get an entry job which they wont unless they were in a bursary scheme. And no you can't blame them.. i would know, the number of non-bursary graduate engineering positions are generally next to nil, if anything, as I've said over and over even on ECSA forums is this.. Industry refuse to hire recent graduates often with fears of poaching too(hence preference for schemes with tie-in for 3 yrs). Bleh.. people are causing their own catastrophes if you ask me and you might say this has nothing to do with race but really.. it boils down lack of skills transference which was meant to happen (something to consider when you sitting in you office, if you are mentoring someone.. are you giving it your all regardless of race or are you giving preference.. reflect a hell a lot.. I'm told in engineering circles some people are like guys in this forum, us vs them mentality.. meh), resulting skill loss when gov gets annoyed with numbers and forces corrections.



BTW graduates (university) of other races have been way higher than the perceived white engineer numbers that this thread makes it seem like.. But ask any engineer, experience & skill transference is whats needed to make an engineer and when you stifle it, good luck to the populous!

 

[Voicy]

Not the first time I've heard this. Obviously there is a lot of hard work being done by those in the crucial areas to help keep the lights on, but there was comment previously by someone who had dealings with Eskom saying that all he saw were endless numbers of 'management' employees wandering around with tablets in their hands and clearly no idea of what exactly they should be doing next. Cull the useless staff, regardless of colour, but FFS, cutting back on engineers for no reason other than that they are white is just ridiculous.

Wait. What am I saying? Stupid me, this is just yet another South African SNAFU, so it shouldn't surprise me.

Having worked there I noticed 2 kinds of employees. Those who came from private sector and knew how to work...and those who graduated into the business or have always worked for government entities.

When I got there from a private consulting engineering firm where I did everything around the project, I found that 4 people were doing the work I did myself. Not to mention being so top heavy with managers etc. as well as unnecessary training and sessions and whatnot taking up so much time.

That said, I also met some of the hardest working and technically brilliant people Ive ever come across there. Sadly it takes one racial grievance against them after confronting non-performing workers to get them suspended.

 

[jansdejager]

Haha I had an engineering student from THE engineering dept finishing his second year, wanting to work in electrical on mines, but could not yet solder to save his life. When you graduate you are literally still looking for an arm to hang on.

 

[Gordon_R]

Bump. Discussion revived in 2019: https://mybroadband.co.za/forum/thr...-rid-of-white-engineers-and-managers.1007952/

 

[rorz0r]

Down with white power!

 

[Kosmik]

Necro of note

 

[JustAsk]

necro

 

[BandwidthAddict]

White power = bright lights. Black power = dark lights.

 

[VooDooC]

Isn't this the exact ****ing reason why Eskom is in the state it is? Getting rid of skilled people that actually know what they're doing just to make up numbers that look good on paper?

FFS, it seems it's true that Africa doesn't want to be helped. Would rather live in their own filth, die from famine and who knows what diseases, get ****ed over by their own governments time and time again and then stand with hands held out for the next handout from... you guessed it, the white man.