Barriers to professional recognition: Experiences of Zimbabwean engineers in South Africa

Abstract

This paper discusses the challenges faced by Zimbabwean engineers as they strive for professional recognition in South Africa. A case study of Zimbabwean engineers is used as an example to explore how a South African professional association dealt with an inflow of migrant professionals from within the African continent. Data was collected through semi-structured individual and group interviews. The findings reveal that the process to become a licenced professional engineer was ambiguous, highly subjective, unnecessarily long, and complex. Furthermore, the Engineering Council of South Africa’s re-accreditation process under-valued their working experience and educational qualifications. Despite being employed in very senior positions for at least three years at the time of the interviews, the participants in this study were not registered as professional engineers. Thus, I argue that the Engineering Council of South Africa is mainly concerned with protecting the interests of the powerful elite in the profession.