More than 300 women in the Gauteng construction sector attended the Indaba with Women in Construction, themed: "Developing skills and contracting capacity in the construction industry".
The Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development held its first annual Women in Construction Indaba on Friday, 12 April at Johannesburg City Hall to discuss challenges facing women in this sector, including standards and requirements needed to become an eligible bidder for government tenders on construction projects.
The indaba which took the format of an imbizo was aimed at giving contractors direct access to government senior managers by giving them a platform to express their concerns.
Infrastructure Development MEC Faith Mazibuko urged women contractors to take an active role in construction by being on site after they are awarded tenders.
“We have witnessed that most female contractors are not interested in learning how to build but rather sub-contract male construction workers to complete their projects,” she said.
Mazibuko said, “The construction industry is still one of the best performing sectors in the economy despite the woes that have befallen the economy.”
We want to do more in developing female previously disadvantaged contractors. We want to see the numbers of contractors getting jobs substantially increasing.
“Fifty percent of procurement must be given to female constructers,” she added.
We don’t want a situation where everybody registers on Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) and yet they don’t get any jobs and they don’t have the right grading as per CIDB. We want to see the number of women in construction increase.
Mazibuko said in the upcoming months her department will introduce the incubator programme to promote the development of sustainable contracting enterprises owned and controlled by historically disadvantaged individuals.
She said, “This programme is aimed at creating an enabling environment (training and mentorship) within which emerging contracting enterprises can develop into sustainable contracting enterprises.”
Issued by: Department of Infrastructure Development, Gauteng Provincial Government
12 April 2010
Source: Department of Infrastructure Development, Gauteng Provincial Government (http://www.gautengonline.gov.za)
