The Engineering Council of Zimbabwe (ECZ) and the Zimbabwe Institution of Engineers (ZIE) have embarked on a nationwide programme to register all local and foreign engineers working on projects across the country, amid concerns over an influx of unaccredited foreign engineers.

Under the Engineering Act (1992) of Zimbabwe, all engineers working in the country are required to register with the ECZ.

However, the ECZ says a large number of bogus engineers, mainly from China and other Far East countries, as well as the Middle East, have moved into the country and are employed on engineering projects at the expense of better-qualified locals.

ECZ CEO Ben Rafemoyo says investigations have proved that most foreign engineers are taking advantage of the
country’s three-month visitor permit and are working on engineering projects without the mandatory accreditation.

“We are seeing some foreigners coming in the country as visitors and working on big projects like setting up mobile telecommunications boosters.”

Rafemoyo says the ECZ will request the Immigration Department and the police to probe the abuse of the three-month
visitor visa by foreign engineers.

The ECZ also wants international engineering companies that have been awarded most of the contracts to set up cellular base stations across the country to comply with the Engineering Act by employing qualified engineers only.

“We know certain skills and capacities diminished in the local engineering sector when people left the country as it experienced economic challenges.

“As a country, we lost the human capital we require for key engineering projects. “But we are saying: ‘Where tenders are awarded to international companies, they must comply with the laws of the land and employ qualified people to undertake the engineering work’.” Adds Rafemoyo: “We have capable engi-neers [in this country].”

In terms of the Engineering Act, engineering companies which require specialist skills that are not available locally can hire expatriates, but these must be understudied by locals.