H Yawa: Women in Construction in Women’s Month

4 August 2006

Programme Director,
Pastor Kelebogile Gavin,
Chairperson of the North West Chapter of SAWIC, Ms Thembi Matabela,
The Provincial Assistant Secretary-General of NAFCOC, Ms Noko Kgaffe,
NABCAT Project Co-ordinator, Ms Vuyokazi Losi,
The Technical Support Manager for Pretoria Portland Cement, Mr Wayne
Milligan,
The Director Research, Monitoring and Evaluation in the Department of Economic,
Development and Tourism, Mr Barry Morkel,
Departmental officials,
Representatives of women organisations in business,
Women contractors:

On the eve of the 50th anniversary of the Women’s March, my Department is
honoured to have hosted this historic engagement with women in the construction
sector.

It is now indeed the time that the fundamental principles of equality,
representivity, participation and inclusivity that our Constitution espouses
become fully entrenched in society because as our former President Nelson
Mandela said, “Freedom cannot be achieved unless women have been emancipated
from all forms of oppression.”

We have achieved a lot in the last 12 years and this hand in hand with the
private sector through a partnership. As government we appreciate the positive
co-operation we get from business and other private sector partners, we say
thank you for lending a hand in the fight against poverty and other challenges
for a better life.

In our programme of action we have identified poverty eradication, social
cohesion, social justice and nation building as critical goals towards a truly
non-racial, non-sexist and economically vibrant South Africa.

The ANC government believes that women are an indispensable part of any
transformation process therefore it imperative to bring them to the centre of
all developments.

As we all know, the second decade of democracy is characterised by
strengthening the first economy and building the second economy. As government,
we have gone further to provide a legal framework and a mechanism for all to
operationalise this and other government programmes in the form of Broad-Based
Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) Charter.

Within the framework of the Charter and the Preferential Procurement Policy
Framework Act, my Department has in the last financial year awarded bids to the
value of R500,780 million. 92 percent of the bids with a contract value of
R460,736 million were awarded to historically disadvantaged individuals. The
260 percent increase in Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) represents an age of
hope for shared growth and development.

To give meaning to fundamental principles of equality, representivity,
participation and inclusivity enshrined in our constitution we awarded 19
percent of bids with a contract value of R95,149 million to 34 women
contractors.

The current boom in the property and building sector signals the beginning
of a period of sustained growth, underscoring the centrality of the
construction industry to the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South
Africa (AsgiSA).

Driven by increasing public and private sector investment in infrastructure,
the construction industry will need to more than double its output over the
next 10 years. Investment growth provides immense opportunities to increase the
participation of women within the industry.

The biggest single challenge is to boost the skills and capacity of both the
industry and the public sector to deliver the infrastructure that is pivotal to
our country’s development.

In partnership with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the
Construction Industry Development Board (CIBD), the national Department of
Public Works has embarked on a process to develop an industrial strategy for
the construction industry. The objective of developing the strategy is to
position the industry as one of the growth industries in AsgiSA.

As part of the recently launched Joint Initiative for Priority Skills
Acquisition (JIPSA), under AsgiSA, the CIBD is also assisting the Department to
co-ordinate a study to determine the projected skills shortages and needs in
the construction industry over the next 15 years. The initiative includes
recruitment and training of unemployed people to meet the projected skills gaps
over time.

Building on the commitments of the construction charter and our experience,
the CIDBs focus on the development of registered black and women contractors
provides a framework for targeted interventions to gear finance, training,
mentoring and appropriate information and management tools.

Contractor registration is already opening doors to support by banks and
financial service providers as the industry moves into a more regulated
environment. For example, National Urban Reconstruction and Housing Agency
(NURCHA) now offers finance to all registered contractors on public sector
projects provided the tender is viable. I therefore wish to call to on
unregistered women contractors to register with CIDB so as not to miss on
opportunities for development.

The Department has also signed agreements with Standard Bank, FNB and Absa
to promote registered emerging contractors on school building projects and the
building of health facilities.

The challenge facing us is to ensure that the partnership agreements are
implemented and that emerging contractors realise the benefits of these
agreements. We will in due course engage the banks to evaluate the
effectiveness of their support programmes.

The women we have engaged on projects have represented the womenfolk very
well. None of their projects were terminated due to non-performance. In them
you have pioneers who are encouraging us to consider increasing the share of
the cake for our women.

Although fronting has not been an issue, I wish to appeal to women
contractors not to be tempted to venture into this despicable business practice
as it is an unacceptable market distortion which undermines government’s
empowerment programmes.

We are confident that the partnership we have strengthened with women
organisations in construction and women contractors through this dialogue will
increase the participation of women in construction.

Our appreciation goes to Pretoria Portland Cement (PPC) for sponsoring this
dialogue. The participation of PPC in this venture has cemented the company’s
partnership with my Department. We hope that PPC would as per presentation by
Mr Wayne Milligan, consider providing technical training and support to
emerging women contractors in our province.

Ka a leboga!

Issued by: Department of Public Works, North West Provincial
Government
4 August 2006