South African Business 2025

INTERVIEWMaking

INTERVIEWMaking meaningful contributions to thequality of lifeThe CEO of South African Institute of Electrical Engineers (SAIEE), LeanetseMatutoane, encourages the mentoring and professional registration of the newgeneration of electrical engineers.What the current key priorities of SAIEE?Increase relevance, representation, visibility,governance structure, membership growth and reach.Would you agree that South Africa needsmany more qualified electrical engineers?South Africa needs to fill the skills demand forqualified, experienced and professional electricalengineering practitioners in order to keep upwith economic requirements. Thereafter, aconstant supply of these practitioners needs to bemaintained to ensure that the demand pipelineis constantly primed. The requirement is in theeducation, energy and construction sectors. This isevidenced in the presence of electrical engineeringpractitioners on the critical skills list.BIOGRAPHYLeanetse Matutoane,CEO of SAIEELeanetse Paul Matutoane was born in Evaton, Gauteng.He holds a National Diploma in Electrical Engineering(Heavy Current) from the Vaal University of Technologyand an MBA from Rhodes University. He has beenactive in the technical, automotive and engineeringconsulting operations management industries formost of his career. In 2007, he received the GeneralMotors Chairman’s Award for his role in the start-up ofoperations for the HUMMER H3 production vehicle ofGeneral Motors.Leanetse started his career as an ElectricalTechnician with Iscor, progressing to MasterTechnician. After that, his responsibilities in productionmanagement within the automotive and FMCG sectorsincluded producing a wind-turbine manufacturingfacility. His experience includes introducing a LeanManufacturing tool at two plants of an automotivemanufacturer. Leanetse joined SAIEE as OperationsManager in June 2018 and was appointed ActingCEO in January 2021. In April 2022 he was officiallyappointed as the Chief Executive Officer of SAIEE.In his current role, he oversees SAIEE’s regionalcentres and SAIEE’s Training Academy and ContinuousProfessional Development programmes. He is chargedwith implementing SAIEE’s strategic intent, includingthe relationship with national and international sisterinstitutes. SAIEE currently has MOUs with the IEEE USA,Cigre Southern Africa, the Association of MunicipalElectricity Utilities of Southern Africa (AMEU) and theSouthern African Power Pool (SAPP). SAIEE is in theprocess of finalising MOUs with the Lesotho Associationof Engineers (LAE) and State Enterprises of the People’sRepublic of China.SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 202564

INTERVIEWWhat is SAIEE doing to produce the nextgeneration of electrical engineers?As a voluntary association recognised by theEngineering Council of South Africa (ECSA)as being a statutory body, we encourage theparticipation of students in the structuresof SAIEE to expose them to the industry andintroduce them to relevant movers and shakersin the industry. Members that are already activein the industry are encouraged to mentor upand-comingelectrical engineering practitionerstowards professional registration.Please comment on the opportunities andchallenges for electrical engineers presented by theburgeoning renewable energy sector in South Africa.With the introduction of the renewable energyIPP projects in South Africa, a multitude ofopportunities have been created that require andencourage electrical engineering expertise. On theother extreme, small-scale embedded generationdemand has also created opportunities for theapplication of expertise in design.Wind turbine manufacturers have said that asOEMs, they require that people who work on aturbine must have a qualification from the windturbine company. Is this an obstacle to SouthAfricans being employed in the RE sector?Given that South Africa has a high unemploymentrate, this should not be used against South Africanelectrical engineering practitioners, but rather beused to ensure that those requisite skills are availablein SA. It is understandable that OEMs would needassurance that someone working on their productsis trained on them to be able to honour theirguarantees. However, this should not be used asan obstacle. OEMs in SA should ensure that localsare trained in their products to be able to provideservices required instead of having to import them.Which sectors present the best opportunitiesfor electrical engineers in the short term?Electric vehicles, renewable energy and AI are thecurrent buzzwords of the industry and presentthe best opportunities for electrical engineeringpractitioners in the short term. They are also boundto be with us in the long term as technologycontinuously evolves and skilled persons that are“fluent” in those technologies stay in demand.What role do you play in society?SAIEE is a voluntary association whose purpose isto enhance the practice of electrical engineeringand the stature of its members throughknowledge, networking, influence, educationand communication. Our membership compriseselectrical engineering practitioners (engineers,technologists, technicians and artisans) engagedin the full range engineering activities, includingacademic research, manufacturing, electronics,telecommunications, measurement and control,mining and power infrastructural services.Members make meaningful contributions tothe quality of life in communities and the steadyadvancement of technology. Their efforts areacknowledged in many countries of the world.What is Identification of Engineering Workand how does it affect electrical engineeringpractitioners and society in general?The Identification of Engineering Work (IDoEW)Act 46 of 2000, section 26, empowers ECSA todevelop policy on the IDoEW. ECSA gazetted theIDoEW on 26 March 2021 and the engineeringfraternity is requested to submit complianceplans that contain procedures for ensuring thatall engineering work is appropriately identifiedand ascribed to registered persons plans by31 March 2025. IDoEW promotes safety andprotection of the public and the environment byensuring that only registered professionals in thedifferent categories of registration, and who havedemonstrated the required competence andacademic qualifications, perform engineeringwork or take responsibility for engineering workso performed per category. ■65 SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 2025