31 August 2006
The Gauteng Provincial Government has since 1994 placed women high on its
agenda. Today there is evidence that as a result of our efforts and working
together with women themselves, Gauteng has indeed become a better place for
women to live in than it was a decade ago.
At the same time, the provincial government through its interaction with the
people of Gauteng and women in particular, is very conscious of the key
challenges that we continue to face in improving the conditions of women.
Many of these challenges are addressed in the provincial government's
five-year programme that the Premier released in June last year. We believe
that this five-year programme will go a long way in empowering women in our
province.
On this last day of what has been an exciting Women's Month, I am happy to
announce yet another groundbreaking Women Empowerment Programme (WEP) that will
see the empowerment of women gathering momentum.
We have identified the gap that exists in the construction industry between
male-owned and women-owned companies and thus embarked on taking steps to
uplift and aid women in construction. In the last financial year a strategy was
developed to assist these women-owned companies by engaging them in various
construction projects through partnering them with male owned companies that
already had skills and knowledge of the industry by enforcing sub-contract
agreements on the projects.
In 2004 the Department of Housing set specific targets aimed at empowering
people from the disadvantaged groups. In terms of Broad-Based Black Economic
Empowerment (BBBEE) we are planning to give 70 percent of opportunities to
Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) companies. The breakdown in terms of
historically disadvantaged groups is as follows: women â 30%, young people â
5%, people with disabilities â 5% and local â 40%.
The Department has deliberately increased the 10 percent national target for
women in housing to 30% because we believe that it is possible to achieve this
30% and even more, because where there is a will, there is a way.
We have established a database that has women companies and we use that from
time to time to give them opportunities not only just in terms of participation
but we look at ownership and encourage women to form co-operatives that will
tender for work within the Department.
Between the periods of 1 April 2004 to 31 March 2005 the Department of
Housing gave contracts to the value of R99 million to women owned
companies.
In the last financial year 2005/06 we have spent approximately R60 million
on women contractors.
The Department has also taken a decision that in all our tenders women will
be given opportunities and will be partnered with other developed
companies.
In taking this commitment forward the Department has identified 10 women
construction companies that have been allocated work to the value of R200
million over a period of three years and support systems will be provided for
mentoring and coaching through our professional teams.
These women owned construction companies have been allocated a project in
each municipality. This is to ensure that there is fair distribution of growth
and development across the regions of Gauteng. It is expected that at the end
of the next three years these companies should be able to compete in their own
right with established developers.
In terms of the selection criteria, we considered amongst other things
projects previously or currently being implemented by each developer, skills
and experience required and general qualifications. One of the considerations
was to verify whether they are registered with construction bodies such as
Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) and the National Housing and
Building Registration Council (NHBRC).
The Department has therefore resolved to give support the selected women
companies as follows:
* Projects have been identified specifically for these women companies
only.
* Cessions for material supply, plant and equipment will be offered and
signed by the Department.
* Facilitate skills development through human resources development unit by
seconding recent graduates with relevant skills in construction to form part of
each company per project. (e.g. quantity surveying, civil engineering, building
science, health and safety officers, architecture, land surveying and town
planning).
Clearly, housing delivery will never be the same in this country. The
predominantly male-dominated construction industry is heading for a dramatic
facelift as a result of numerous progressive initiatives by women's
organisations as well as government.
There is no better way in which women advancement in the industry can be
pursued and promoted other than through such initiatives. These initiatives are
nothing but a clear indication of the government and private sector's
commitment to the total economic liberation of women in our society.
Such interventions are an affirmation of a pressing need to transform our
social structures and networks. For if we continue to perpetuate the disparate
power relations in which women's economic dependency translates to the
strengthening of chauvinistic social structure that stifle women empowerment,
the entire society then is heading for socio-economic disaster.
It is such pragmatic interventions that need to be replicated all over South
Africa so that the housing backlog as well as the transformation of the
construction industry can be speeded up.
âMalibongwe igama lamakhosikaziâ.
For more information contact:
Mongezi Myani
Tel: (011) 355 4032
Cell: 082 602 5358
Issued by: Department of Housing, Gauteng Provincial Government
31 August 2006
