ROUND UP
Consulting Engineering South Africa (CESA)
is appalled by the pres-
sure put on its members to certify payment for work not done and
will not bow to pressure from greedy, unscrupulous and unqualified
contractors and corrupt officials.
“We are concerned and as an organisation that represents this
invaluable profession which is the backbone of quality infrastructure,
we cannot accept this despicable behavior and conduct to continue
unchallenged,” states CESA chief executive officer, Lefadi Makibinyane.
He cautions that CESA will not allow these bad elements to hold
the profession to ransom or deter our members from practising their
profession.Their actions are denying our people a better life through
the delivery of basic services and critical infrastructure underpinning
economic growth and job creation.
“Our Government has done everything to prepare internationally
acclaimed policies but implementation has been their Achilles Heel
mainly due to these unscrupulous officials who are eroding the
profitability of, not only our member firms, but most companies do-
ing business with government, especially
municipalities where the rot lies.”
Makibinyane adds that governance
in most municipalities in the country
is in shambles and is worsened by
the political interference in admin-
istration.
“In CESA’s space in the economy
we shall be relentless in holding those in power accountable to en-
sure that the quality of basic services through effective and efficient
infrastructure is delivered to the people of South Africa. We shall
work closely with government institutions to ensure that these cor-
rupt acts are identified and their perpetrators reported to the South
African Police Services, the Public Protector, the Special Investigative
Unit and NationalTreasury, for further investigation and prosecution,”
he concludes.
Enquiries:Tel. 463 2022 or email
or
Two revised standards dealing with explosion
prevention equipment have recently been
published. These are ARP 0108, Regulatory
requirements for explosion-protected ap-
paratus and SANS 10108. The classification
of hazardous locations and the selection
of equipment for use in such locations.
As both these standards are referred to in
legislation, the changes to these standards
will be required reading for all involved in
selecting and applying explosion prevention
equipment.
ARP 0108 covers product conformity re-
quirements for explosion-protected appara-
tus used in South Africa, while SANS 10108,
as its title suggests, focuses on classifying
surface and underground locations in which
fires and explosions can occur, so as to permit
the proper selection of electrical andmechani-
cal equipment for use in these locations.
Dr Johannes Auret, a technical specialist
who played a leading role in drafting the
standards, comments on the key changes
as follows:
Why were ARP 0108 and SANS 10108 re-
vised? Both documents were out-of- date, as
SANS 10108 was published in 2005 and ARP
0108 was last amended in 2007.
What are the most important changes that
have been made to ARP 0108 and to SANS
10108? SANS 10108 now refers directly to
SANS 60079-14 (IEC 60079-14) and SANS
60079-17 (IEC 60079-17).The changes to ARP
0108 are mainly:
• Improvements on how to deal with previ-
ously certified imported Ex equipment
• CertifiedEx equipment without or with an
outdated IA certificate (where the certifi-
cate was issued by a local lab or ATL)
• Guidance on certification of intrinsically
safe instrumentation loops
• Inclusion of caplamps and lamprooms
Other points: ARP 0108 is now becoming
widely accepted as a useful guide.
Enquiries:To purchase the standard: Tel. 0861
277 227 or email
Dr Johannes Auret.Tel. 011 316 4601 or email
South Africa has successfully defended its championship at the In-
ternational Student Cluster Competition, winning the overall prize in
Leipzig, Germany.
The announcement was made on 25 June 2014 at the International
Supercomputing Conference. It is the first time a team has won the
competition in consecutive years.The South African team of six was
also the youngest, comprising only
undergraduate students.The High Per-
formance Computing (HPC) Advisory
Council Student Cluster Challenge is an
opportunity to showcase the expertise
of the world's brightest computer scien-
tists in a friendly, yet spirited competi-
tion. The Centre for High Performance
Computing (CHPC) is an initiative of the
Department of Science andTechnology implemented by the
CSIR
.Team
preparations for the competition included working with supervisors
and vendor partners to design and build a winning cluster.This is done
using commercially available components without exceeding the set
power limitations, and learning the predetermined HPC applications.
The Dell computing company was the vendor partner behind the
South African team, proving all equipment. Dell also sponsored a trip
to its headquarters in Austin, Texas in the United States of America
and to theTexas Advanced Computing Centre.The SouthAfrican team
members were Eugene de Beste, NicoleThomas,Warren Jacobus and
Saeed Natha of the University of theWestern Cape; Pieter Malan of the
University of Stellenbosch; and Ellen Nxala of the University of Fort
Hare.The team supervisors were David Macleod and NicolasThorne
of the CHPC and Vernon Nichols of Dell.
Enquiries:Tel. 012 841 2911 or email
CESA warns unscrupulous and unqualified
contractors and corrupt officials
Revisions of explosion prevention equipment standards published
South Africa retains supercomputing championship
SYSTEMS ENGINEERING
37
July ‘14
Electricity+Control
