Chairperson of the CIDB, Ms Lindelwa Myataza,
Deputy Chairperson of the CIDB Mr Christopher Jiyane and CIDB Board Members,
CEO of the CIDB, Mr Mzwandile Sokupa and staff,
Representatives of the Department of Public Works,
Representatives of Built Environment Professional,
Councils, Industry Associations and Learned Societies,
A special mention and welcome to the members of the CIDB Evaluation and Review Panel:
Mr Pusetso Makote,
Mr Shaun Webber,
Mr Sihle Dlungwana,
Ms Andiswa Mngomezulu,
Ms Andiswa Xozwa,
Ms Phelisa Nkomo,
Ms Sue Govender and
Prof. PD Rwelamila.
Ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to participate in this event marking the launch of the CIDB 5 Year Review an opportunity to step back and take an objective look at the CIDB and to ask a series of questions:
- What has CIDB achieved in the last 5 years?
- Is it performing according to its mandate?
- What is working and what is not?
- How can we improve performance?
Let me welcome everyone here tonight to the launch of the external Evaluation and Review of the Construction Industry Development Board. A special word of welcome to the members of the Panel that will be undertaking the independent Evaluation and Review - yours is a very responsible and important task.
I look forward to reading the findings of the Review Panel.
The CIDB has been mandated to:
- provide leadership to the construction industry, and to regulate the construction industry
- to stimulate and promote sustainable growth and transformation in the construction industry.
In keeping with the principles of responsible and transparent governance that Parliament strives to uphold, the CIDB Act also requires that: “The Board must facilitate a review of its activities in relation to its goals and objects, at least once every five years.”
And that is why we are here tonight - this is the start of the second Review of the CIDB, in relation to its goals and objects as defined in the CIDB Act. As highlighted in the Terms of Reference that I have sent to the Review Panel, this Review will be taken by the Review Panel based on:
- information and documentation provided to the Panel by the CIDB, including Strategic Plans and Annual Reports
- working sessions between the Review Panel and the CIDB Management
- interviews with Stake holder Groups by the Review Panel - including contractor associations, built environment professionals, and client departments.
And welcome to the representatives of stakeholder groups that are here tonight, your role and input is very important as we chart the way forward for the CIDB. You also have a very real interest in ensuring that the CIDB works, and works well. So don’t hold back in your comments.
The Review Panel will also be provided with any other information that it request, and the CIDB will gladly assist in providing such information. The Review Panel that I appointed brings together a spectrum of expertise, including representation from:
- the contracting sector;
- the Construction Project Management and Quantity Surveying professions;
- State Owned Companies (Transnet);
- the power generation, petro-chemical and industrial sectors;
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the CSIR and the UNISA School of Business Leadership; and
a social economist and advisor to a former Minister of Public Enterprise.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am sure that you will agree that the Review Panel provides the breadth and depth that is required to undertake this Evaluation and Review of the CIDB. I also want to highlight here that I was guided in the appointments that I made by an independent panel that was established by the Department of Public Works to consider nominations to the CIDB Review Panel - again demonstrating the importance of this Review and demonstrating responsible and transparent governance.
I will refrain here from making any comments tonight about my perceptions and views about the performance of the CIDB - I have done that on many other occasions, and I do not want to be seen here as trying to influence the Panel. But I do want to make a few comments about the role of the CIDB and about my expectations of the CIDB.
The CIDB should play an indispensable role:
- firstly, to transform and develop the industry
- second, promoting growth, improved performance, delivery, and value for money, and
- thirdly, enhancing the contribution of the industry to South Africa’s social and economic development agenda.
The CIDB should be judged not only as to whether it is achieving or working towards its mandate, but also how effectively and efficiently it is achieving its mandate. Emphasis should be on the impact of CIDB interventions. The country has undertaken a 20 year review of performance of the state, and everything we do will be judged within that context.
As the President made very clear in his recent State of the Nation Address: “the focus now is on implementation and delivery.”
The CIDB was established in 2000 and this second review of the CIDB must address implementation and delivery by the CIDB. Transformation of this industry is key and we need to ask ourselves the following questions:
- How many previously disadvantaged contractors have emerged?
- What more should government do to support the transformation?
- What are the challenges facing the industry and impacting negatively on transformation?
- How many women are participating in this industry and what are the peculiar challenges facing emerging female contractors?
- Given the high rate of unemployment of the youth, what are the radical steps we need to take to bring the youth into the fold?
The output and recommendations of this Evaluation and Review will be very important, and will be considered by myself, the 5 Year Review Task Team and by my department, and thereafter by the Board and by CIDB management. I believe that the output of this Review must also reflect the views of the industry, and will provide a substantive input into shaping and strengthening the role and contributions of the CIDB going forward.
The output of this Review must strengthen the role of the CIDB in this construction industry -that is so central to the socio-economic development of our country. I understand that this will be a very intense period of work over the next week, and I understand that verbal feedback will be provided to DPW by next Friday, and that the final report will be delivered within two weeks after that.
To the members of the Evaluation and Review Panel: I wish you well and I look forward to receiving your report in due course. It is my intention that, after I have considered the report and engaged with the CIDB, I will then facilitate a follow-up meeting at which point the report will be made available to industry stakeholders.
Ladies and gentlemen, Review Panel members, stakeholders and guests,
I thank you!
