N Kganyago: Women and Environment Conference in Women’s Month

7 August 2006

Salutations:

Between 27 July and 3 August 2006 the construction industry and the civil
society observed the National Construction Week campaign. The initiative is the
brainchild of the Department of Public Works and was conceived to create
awareness about the role and the importance of the built environment in the
reconstruction, development and transformation in South Africa. Government has
realised the need to harness the strategic advantage of the built environment,
including the construction industry, given the industry’s pivotal role in
providing infrastructure, promoting social cohesion and driving economic
growth.

To appreciate how important this industry is, just close your eyes and
imagine the world without any buildings, structures or roads. The house you
live in, the school you attend, the road you travel on, the shopping mall you
frequently visit, the hospitals, libraries, prisons, churches, clinics, sports
fields,
hotels, bridges, dams, bus and taxi terminals, airports, railways, military
basis and offices we work from are all the products of the construction
industry and collectively constitute our built environment.

In recognition of the value of this sector, the Department of Public Works
in 1999 published a White Paper on the “Creation of an enabling environment for
the reconstruction, growth and Development in the Construction Industry”. Among
others the White Paper calls for the transformation of the industry in terms of
race and gender equality.

The industry is purported to be the third biggest in terms of job-creation
behind mining and transport. It boasts an annual turnover of more than R60
billion, contributing no less than 13 percent to the Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) of the country, yet the representation of blacks and women remain
trivial. Government through its procurement muscle is the single largest
consumer of construction industry output, accounting for more than 40
percent.

This relationship is historical but like most industrial relations in the
history of this country, the apartheid system had left the industry completely
closed to blacks, women and the emerging sector. In 1999, in the study
undertaken by the Commission on Gender Equality, both the mining and the
construction industries were singled out for their lack of transformation
agenda particularly when it came to offering prospects for the development of
women.

It was at the same time that women ministers had just been inaugurated to
lead these sectors in the form of Ministers Stella Sigcau and Phumzile
Mlambo-Ngcuka who are today the Deputy President of the country. A long process
ensued wherein the industry was engaged and persuaded to reposition itself for
growth through adopting transformation.

Various strategic interventions were launched by the Department including
the R142-million Strategic Empowerment Programme for women in construction in
2001 which sought to ring fence certain infrastructure projects for execution
by women-owned enterprises. Lack of depth with regard to the availability of
women contractors led the officials to allocate these projects willy-nilly,
often leading to fronting. This and other challenges around transformation
prompted
the Department to launch the Construction Transformation Charter process in
2004. A final document was adopted and signed-off by the Minister of Public
Works and the representatives of the industry in March 2006.

Currently the Department is in the process of gazetting both the property
and the construction transformation charters. In terms of the scorecard, we
have given the industry seven years (up to 2013) to meet women targets in terms
of ownership, control and employment equity. The construction industry is worth
highlighting because the infrastructure sector of the Expanded Public Works
Programme (EPWP) relies on the capacity and the skills in the industry for
effective delivery.

The Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) was conceived as a
government-wide initiative to alleviate poverty through job creation, skills
development and the improvement of public service delivery. It is one of
government’s short-to-medium term programmes aimed at alleviating and reducing
unemployment and unemployability and covers all spheres of government and
state-owned enterprise.

Other sectors of the programme are economic, social and environmental. Since
it was launched in May 2004, the EPWP has to date created more than 300 000 net
job opportunities across all the four sectors of the programme and women had
been among the beneficiaries. The programme has a target to create one million
jobs opportunities by the end of 2009, and 30 percent and 40 percent of those
jobs should go to youth and women, respectively. It is obvious that we need to
up the pace of the programme.

Although the infrastructure sector of the EPWP is the most visible, other
sectors have been equally frantic. In the last financial year (between April
2005 and March 2006), the programme expended four point seven billion rand
(R4,7 billion) to execute 4 318 projects and created 208 898 net number of job
opportunities. In the same period, more than six hundred and thirty five
million rand was paid out in wages. About 49 percent of jobs went to women and
38 percent to youth. The environment sector was responsible for eighty one
thousand one hundred and eighty six net jobs from one thousand one hundred and
seventy eight projects executed in that period.

In my travels to visit the EPWP projects, I have been very impressed to meet
dedicated women working diligently to make success of this programme. Some of
them include a young woman outside Mafikeng in North West province, Ms Tshedi
Lekhoue, who is growing a commercially successful vegetable garden. She was
pleased to reveal that almost half of her product is donated to a local hospice
to feed people suffering from terminal illnesses. Her effort did not go
unnoticed. She was nominated the best young female farmer in 2004.

I have also interacted with women who are making success of projects in
working for fire and working for water sub-programmes. The Department of Public
Works is currently in talks with the National Treasury to request additional
funds for the introduction and execution of labour-intensive domestic waste
management services in some of the under serviced areas in most municipalities
across the country.

This is part of our effort in the up scaling and mass of the EPWP. We
believe that the programme has the potential to be expanded further to create
more labour absorptive capacity and increase its scope as well as its social
impact. The country comes from an apartheid background which was characterised
by backlogs due to lopsided social and financial planning. The challenges
remain great but so is the resolve of government to battle and conquer poverty.
Our environment and its management require injection of resources which the
country has in limited supply at the moment. We rely on men and women of
integrity who everyday battle it out often under difficult conditions to make
South Africa work. The Expanded Public Works Programme is one such vehicle and
women contribution has been outstanding as evidenced by the figures above.

Issued by: Department of Public Works
7 August 2006
Source: Department of Public Works (http:// www.publicworks.gov.za)