By Mvuyo Tyobeka, CEO of SPM
South Africa stands at a crossroads: a country rich in potential, yet burdened by a youth unemployment rate nearing 50%. Amidst this crisis, the power sector is grappling with a quieter, but equally urgent challenge—the shortage of skilled engineers needed to drive innovation and ensure our energy future. According to the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA), the country continues to face a critical shortage of engineering professionals—especially in civil, electrical, and mechanical disciplines. The ratio of engineers to the population is far below global benchmarks. To put this into perspective, in South Africa, there is only one engineer available to serve over 3,000 people. In contrast, Brazil has one engineer for every 227 people, and Malaysia has one for every 543—highlighting just how wide the gap really is. While the lights may stay on today, who will keep them on tomorrow?
As we mark Youth Month this June, we’re reminded not just of the role young people played in shaping our past, but the role they must play in designing our future—particularly in sectors as critical as energy. And yet, there is a growing disconnect between the skills we need and the opportunities available to cultivate them. At SPM, our core work is about keeping South Africa’s electrical systems running—but our broader mission is about building the next generation of people who will do that long after we’re gone.
This mission demands more than bursaries or slogans. It requires us to radically rethink how we develop power engineers—from the classroom to the works site.
Rather than begin with a blueprint or a government policy, consider this instead.
Imagine a young intern named Andile from a rural town in the Eastern Cape, where the electricity supply is often inconsistent and careers in engineering are rarely discussed in everyday life. Despite these challenges, Andile earns a bursary to study electrical engineering at a local TVET college. He’s driven, curious, and committed to creating change—not just for himself, but for his community.
In his third year, he learns about a planned practical training programme being developed by SPM. He begins to picture what his experience could look like: shadowing experienced technicians, learning how infrastructure is maintained and recalibrated, asking insightful questions, and assisting with basic tasks under supervision. Most importantly, he starts to envision a future for himself in the industry—not as an outsider looking in, but as someone with a place in it.
This is the power of exposure. Without it, young people are asked to dream of careers they’ve never truly seen. With it, ambition becomes anchored in real experience.
Andile’s story, while fictional, reflects the truth of hundreds of young South Africans who enter technical studies full of promise, only to be met with invisible barriers—limited access to internships, a lack of mentorship, or a narrow pipeline from college to industry.
We speak often about a “skills gap,” but the more accurate description might be an aspiration gap—a disconnect between talent and opportunity, not just ability and knowledge.
To bridge this gap, we must go beyond traditional recruitment pipelines and build systems that actively bring young people into the fold before they graduate.
That means integrating work experience into education—not as an afterthought, but as part of the journey. It means co-developing curricula between industry and institutions. And it means empowering engineers in the field to become mentors, not just technicians.
The current education-to-employment path in South Africa is too passive. Students spend years in theory-heavy courses, often without ever stepping onto a live site. In a field like power engineering, which thrives on precision, responsiveness, and evolving technologies, this delay can be damaging.
Industry cannot afford to sit back and hope for better graduates—we must be part of shaping them. This is not just a responsibility; it’s an investment.
The future of energy is not just about wires and substations—it’s about digital fluency. Power engineers today must learn to work with smart grid systems, predictive maintenance tools, data analytics, and even elements of machine learning.
So, we must equip our next generation with more than just voltage calculations—they need to understand software, systems integration, and emerging technologies. And those competencies need to be introduced early, particularly in under-resourced learning environments.
SPM is planning to embed these ideas into our operations. While our practical training programme is still in development, we are committed to increasing opportunities for hands-on learning, designing mentorship frameworks, and exploring partnerships with institutions that align theory and practice.
Importantly, we’re committed to diversity—not just in race or gender, but in geography and background. We want township youth and rural learners to feel just as welcome in this field as their urban counterparts.
We also believe that localisation is key. South Africa will not achieve energy security through imported expertise alone. We need to produce and empower engineers who understand the unique challenges of our grid, our communities, and our socio-economic landscape.
When engineers are born of the communities they serve, the work becomes more than technical—it becomes personal. A mini-grid installed by a technician who grew up nearby carries with it not just power, but pride.
This is how you build sustainable systems: not just with infrastructure, but with people.
