T Didiza: 2006 National Construction Week celebration

3 August 2006

Programme Director,
Honourable Ministers and MEC’s present here tonight
Honourable members of the Portfolio Committee
Senior Government Officials,
Judges of the 2014 Youth Foundation Competition
Captains of the construction industry
The CIDB Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson
Members of the Youth Foundation
Ladies and gentlemen

Good Evening,

We are here tonight celebrating the end of a maiden yet successful National
Construction Week campaign. The National Construction Week is an initiative of
my department, in partnership with other government infrastructure departments
notably the provincial departments of public works, to create awareness to the
public, communities, and all other stakeholders about the importance of
construction. This we do because we acknowledge that the construction industry
is a national asset and a critical link in the government’s value chain.

The launch of the campaign was also an attempt to get the private sector to
commit to the promotion and positioning of its own industry. The acquiescence
of the sector in the past has helped fuel perceptions of a robust, macho and
dirty industry devoid of glamour and professionalism. Naturally operating
within a competitive environment characterised by tighter profit margins, the
industry overlooked image building and perception management as peripheral. The
continuing loss of skilled personnel and the pressures of delivery brought by a
growing order book due to increase in construction demand has forced us to take
stock of the industry with a view to market it to itself and the country.

Following this initial bout of National Construction Week 2006, we look
forward to seeing an even more direct involvement by the industry in the
subsequent campaigns.

Through this campaign we aim to re-affirm the centrifugal role of the built
environment in our life. I prefer to view construction as part of our culture.
Culture is the way of life and the way that life expresses meanings and values
through its social institutions. The campaign sought to showcase the meaning
and the value of construction as a powerful institution in the reconstruction
and development of our country.

All the mega housing projects and other burgeoning public infrastructure
that this government is undertaking to reverse the artificial backlogs of
apartheid are a case in point. Apartheid space planning deprived certain
sections of our society an access to essential public infrastructure and this
state of affairs accentuated their poverty. Many had to travel long distances
at the mercy of both anti-social and natural elements to receive government and
other useful services.

The increasing government investment worth billion of rands in
infrastructure development is largely to alleviate poverty by providing these
people with buildings and structures that they never had. As part of National
Integrated Crime Prevention Strategy, the Department of Public Works between
1999 and 2004, built multi million rand Community Safety Centres in almost all
the provinces, bringing these one-stop crime management facilities, for the
first time, nearer to the deserving communities. This was at the same time that
government was rolling-out the Multi Purpose Community Centres (MPCC’s) which
dispensed with essential services such as social development, home affairs,
universal telecommunications access and many others. Recently the private
sector has been establishing shopping malls in the previously disadvantaged
townships including Umlazi near Durban and Sebokeng to the south of
Johannnesburg.

The relevance of this industry stretches beyond just begetting concrete
structures. Constructions as an art form also bequeath our landscape with
exquisite aesthetics. The famous skylines in the world including Manhattan,
Sidney and Hong Kong, are the products of the imaginative men and women of
construction. These architectural and town planning wonders appeal to our
artistic instincts and create centres of national pride and international
tourism market.

World famous civilisations were literally built on strong foundations laid
by this industry, from the awe-inspiring Pyramids of ancient Egypt, and the
marvellous shrines of the Central American Incas, to the majestic Muwenomutapa
structures of the great Zimbabwean kingdom. This is all the magnificence we
seek to glorify and the sentiment we want to elicit with the National
Construction Week. I think we have succeeded in igniting the spark. In the next
year we shall hope to see a greater involvement by the civil society.

In preparation for the launch of the Construction Week, we implemented a
comprehensive media advertising campaign, highlighting construction as a career
choice of destination, one that is exciting and appealing to young people. This
is done through initiatives such as the National Construction Week, the 2014
Youth Foundation, the Military Skills Development, and other learnership
programmes. We even took the Take A Girl Child Campaign and made it a prelude
for the National Construction Week in terms of key messages and other themes.
This is because we believe that, as they say in IsiZulu, “Inkunzi
isematholeni”. Literally this translates to the belief that calves are
bulls-in-waiting. In our case it means that our future hope in terms of skills
replenishment, leadership and succession, can be found among these youths.

During the National Construction Week, more than 50 events were held
nationwide, thanks to the concerted efforts of government, the private sector
and our public entities such as the Construction Industry Development Board
(CIDB), the Independent Development Trust (IDT) and the Council for the Built
Environment (CBE). These ranged from the Interbuild Exhibitions at Nasrec to
the various site visits where our children were given first hand account of the
intricacies of the construction industry. Many were given practical experiences
in matters construction. These experiences buoyed by the comprehensive media
plan, managed to raise awareness but also created expectations. The National
Construction Week call centre, I am informed, was inundated with young people
looking for employment. I want to challenge the industry to walk the talk. Let
us take these young people on learnerships, provide them with bursaries to
study further, but most importantly, employ them in line with the slogan for
this year’s campaign, of helping them “build their dreams”.

The current boom in the industry provides us, both government and the
industry, with an opportunity to demonstrate the extent to which this industry
is both willing and able to transform itself given the correct enabling
environment. The number of big projects being planned and implemented is a
barometer of growth, signalling both opportunities and real challenges.
However, people build projects and the industry’s insistence to build people is
a long term vision and a worthwhile investment.

This industry contributes 13,7 % to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (from the
2006 first quarter report), and another contribution to other social
development indices including improved public service delivery. The Expanded
Public Works Programme (EPWP) for instance, is creating much needed depth in
the industry. The recently launched EPWP Vukuphile Contractor and Supervisor
Learnership programme is building a corps of accredited industry players in the
provision of basic infrastructure so urgently required to expedite service
delivery particularly at local government level.

However, to ensure that this growth continues and expands, we need skilled
people. In fact the industry needs twice as many skilled people as it currently
has. My appeal remains that let us invest in training and skills development
while creating an industry with a reputation for high quality performance and
effective project delivery. We need a strong economy to generate employment but
we also need a diverse industry that is successful, competitive and secured to
drive that growth.

In concluding, I am reminded of the story about President John F Kennedy in
the early 1960s. He was inspecting the space rocket and satellite launch
facilities at Cape Canaveral. Seeing a man working he asked him ”What do you
do, sweep the floors, put the nuts and bolts in, build the rigging?” the man
replied, “Oh, I’m putting a man on the moon.” We must have ambition and vision.
Never lose sight of what you are building for, and what it means to the
community as a whole.” Next time we see workers in overalls pushing
wheelbarrows full of mortar, let us remember that they are laying concrete
foundations for the sustainable development of Africa and its people.

I thank you.

Issued by: Department of Public Works
3 August 2006