Summit held at Loskop Dam
22 June 2007
Executive Mayor, Mashilo
Representatives from government departments and the private sector
Members from the South African Youth Council
Members of the Youth Commission
Our young leaders
Distinguished guests
Five days ago, we gathered in Solomom Mahlangu Stadium to commemorate one of
the most historical epochs in our fight against colonialism and apartheid. 16
June 1976 is one of the defining moments of youth heroism where young people
demonstrated their agility and commitments in fighting for their own freedom.
As we were gathering, we were paying homage to the martyrs of the struggle who
paid the highest sacrifice to set us free. This year's commemoration was under
the theme: "Deepening youth participation through service." In compliance of
the adopted theme this youth in construction summit theme is "Deepening youth
participation through service and partnership." This Summit is a culmination of
the discussion we had with the South African Youth Council and the Mpumalanga
Youth Commission. The aim is to provide a platform for young people and other
stakeholders to discuss problems, challenges and constraints affecting the
construction environment.
This Summit is part of the series of events that have been planned
throughout the month of June to commemorate the contribution and sacrifice of
the young heroes and heroine in ushering the new democratic dispensation. As
young people, you should pride yourself of the efforts you have made to bring
our country to where it is. Since the new dispensation, no one can doubt the
great milestone the nation has achieved in improving the livelihood of our
people. The Executive Council identified five flagship projects for special
attention and deployed resources to implement them. These flagship programmes
are the two economic development corridors, namely: the Maputo and Moloto
development corridors, the revitalisation of our tourism industry by sponsoring
the restoration, preservation and packaging of our heritage and the greening of
Mpumalanga to become South Africa's green region through conservation
management, the roll out of water infrastructure to provide water for all in
the province in a sustainable way and the acceleration of management capacity
building to attain efficiency and excellency in delivering the vision for a
better life across all spheres of government.
As part of reclaiming our history and heritage, I had pleasure seven days
ago to participate in the official launch of the "Mpumalanga history and
heritage book" at the Botshabelo heritage site, and subsequently also
participated in the launch of the Mpumalanga and heritage book in Cape Town on
Tuesday. South Africa remains one of the few countries in the world where young
people continue to play an important role in political and socio-economic
spheres of their country. As we approach the 2010 Soccer World Cup, all
government departments are providing a wide range of programmes aimed at
ensuring the effective participation of young people in the mainstream of the
economy. It is estimated that R50 billion will be injected into the South
African economy in preparation for the world cup. As the government, we have to
develop programmes aimed at ensuring that young people are properly empowered
with skills so that they are able to benefit from the economic spin offs
generated by the World Cup. The built environment is set to grow strongly in
the next five years as a result of increased infrastructure spending by
government as part of the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South
Africa (AsgiSA).
It is estimated that government will spend more than R350 billion to ensure
that this happens. This investment will have a direct impact on the skills
requirements of the construction industry and will put even more pressure on
the small pool of professionals and artisans in the built environment. This
means that the country will be R350 billion richer in infrastructural
investment. It also means that consultants are guaranteed the availability of
R35 billion worth of income, if marked up at 10% and R70 billion, if marked up
at 20%. It means R31,5 billion income to the contractors if marked at 10% and
R63 billion income, if marked at 20%.
A question that remain is how much of this will go to the youth? Will it
walk to the youth or be delivered to them or accessed by the youth? Do the
youth know about this? Do they know how to access these opportunities? Do we
have enough young consultants and contractors? Do they have what it takes to
participate in this industry and how to position themselves for this? On the
other hand, what this means is that a R350 billion worth of infrastructure
would have been invested that will require maintenance at a minimum cost level
of 10% of the total cost as per standards. This means that a further minimum of
R35 billion will be required to maintain this invested infrastructure per year,
hence demand skilled human resources to carry them out. The huge investment
infrastructure demand that young people should consider life time careers such
as plumbers, bricklayers, welders, electrician, motor mechanic and boilermakers
in order that they become employable and are able to create jobs for
themselves.
These skills are also critical if we are to reach the target of 6% growth
and achieve the 2014 vision to halve unemployment and poverty. In this regard,
our youth formation have got a critical role to play in sensitising young
people to understand the value of vocational training and technical skills in
the context of a growing economy and developmental state. As part of our
departmental Outreach programme, we have met with contractors and consultants.
We have listened attentively to the challenges, frustrations and inputs made by
these stakeholders. This Summit is as a result of these interactions. This
Summit will be followed by a Summit on Women in Construction in August which
will culminate to a Provincial Construction Summit which will involve the
Construction Industry Development Board, Further Education and Training (FET)
colleges and other stakeholders of the construction fraternity. Amongst other
things which should be addressed by this Summit are the following:
* the participation and the accessing of opportunities for young
professionals
* the exodus of experienced professionals in the construction environment
* recruitment and retention strategy to curb the declining pool of ageing
professionals
* the declining standard and poor quality in the construction and provision of
infrastructure
* the sustainability of the construction industry and professional development
and customer care of the industry
* quality assurance
* encourage young people to enrol with further education and training colleges
for building industry skills development.
As the Provincial Government, our commitment has been loud and clear in
supporting youth owned Small Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) and
co-operatives. The challenge is on young people themselves to define the role
they can play to make sure that job opportunities are created. This will
require the creation and the attraction of possible market and business
opportunities for young entrepreneurs and exposing young entrepreneurs to
economic opportunities. As part of implementing the resolutions taken in the
Procurement Summit held previous in this same venue with the participation of
the National African Federated Chambers of Commerce (NAFCOC), we will ensure
that government officials involved in supply chain management are available to
share information with young entrepreneurs on how to access businesses in
government.
The establishment of supply chain management directorates has placed
departments in a better footing to actively promote economic development
policies. We have to ensure that our procurement prescripts and strategies are
designed in such a way that we are able to spend more aggressively to drive
youth and black economic empowerment. As we construct these projects, we must
ensure that critical skills are transferred to the hands of the youth. Our
effective participation in the global economy is dependent on how we interact
on the following issues:
* information technology
* knowledge production
* human resources
* refocusing of our institutions in the provision of skills required by the
construction industry.
It has been proven beyond reasonable doubt that knowledge production has
become central to globalisation and economic development. It is critical
therefore that we must produce enough graduates in economic based fields,
science and engineering to compete in the global market place. The current
situation has indicated that in the construction industry we have only been
able to retain half the number of artisans we had in the late 1980s although
the economy has become bigger than it was. This summit therefore provides an
opportunity for interaction to come up with practical strategies that will help
young people realise their dreams of actively participating in the built
environment. It is with great sense of pride to report that the province has
made a remarkable progress with regard to the implementation of the National
Youth Service programme.
This programme offers an opportunity for young people to become creators of
their own jobs and to learn new skills and patriotic values whilst at the same
time contribution to the well being of their communities. The department has
also started an emerging contractor training programme to help emerging
businessmen in the construction industry. On Friday 9 March 2007, the
department launched the province's first Sakh' abakhi contractor development
programme at Nsikazi Stadium. The 82 small contractors that are registered on
the programme will undergo a two year training programme while they are
building school projects, such as classrooms, libraries, kitchens and
administration blocks. Of our contractors, the majority is under 35, therefore
youth, while 57% are women and two are disabled. It is a good example of the
versatility of the construction industry, as it illustrates that persons with
good business skills can also become involved in this way.
The Mpumalanga Department of Public Work is also the co-ordinator of the
provincial Expanded Public Works Programme or EPWP, whose aim is to create
short term employment for unemployed, unskilled persons from three targeted
groups, namely youth, women and the disabled. Our commitment in sustaining our
democracy should not only be demonstrated in words or slogans but through our
practical involvement in voluntary work and activities which seek to bring
development in the lives of our young people. The summit is not about delivery
of opportunities only, but also about enhancing access. It is my wish that this
summit should not be a talkshop that will just result in a long wish list or
feel good kind of a programme, but I hope to be assisted with identification of
challenges faced by the youth, what process can we put in place to respond to
them.
Do we hope that the outcome of this summit will tell us what opportunities
are available in the built industry? How is the level of access to these
opportunities, what are the limitation, what must be done? Access to finance,
development challenges and what programmes to be put in place to mitigate the
challenges; exit strategy from public investment. These issues must be done
with consultants, prospective contractors, entry level contractors, medium
contractors and established contractors. We must also discuss how we are going
to prepare ourselves to participate in built and property industry in the
province. These are the least expected outcomes on my part. I believe that this
kind of outcome will allow us to transform the built and property industry and
ensure meaningful participation of the youth. I wish you well all the best in
your constructive deliberation.
I thank you.
Issued by: Mpumalanga Provincial Government
22 June 2007
Source: Mpumalanga Provincial Government (http://www.mpumalanga.gov.za)
