Dear Colleagues

March is a celebratory month at the CBE, we celebrate International Women’s Day, Human Rights Day and lastly, the end of the 2022/2023 financial year.

We welcome the appointment of Minister Sihle Zikalala and Deputy Minister Swarts to lead the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure family. Also thank the former Minister Patricia De Lille and Deputy Minister Noxolo Kiviet for their guidance and support. On the 6 to 8 March, CBE hosted an Induction Programme for Boards of Public Entities coordinated by the National School of Government (NSG), under the theme: Changing the Narrative of Governance in Public Entities for all the nine professional bodies affiliated with the CBE. The induction was a three-day contact session focusing on Ethics, Principles of Governance, Leadership, Planning and Reporting for Accountability. The intention of the induction was to allow the Directors to expand their leadership knowledge and skills in terms of the local, regional, and global trends and to respond to the ongoing learning requirement of senior management.

We successfully hosted the second Women Empowerment and Gender Equality (WEGE) on 15 March 2023, under the theme: WomenMultiply – Bringing economic resilience for women in the built environment. This was in commemoration of the International Women’s Day and to celebrate the women in the built environment. The webinar focused on economic empowerment for women in the built environment, ensuring equal access for women to existing markets, productive resources, and decent work. I take this opportunity to applaud the planning team for their hard work and dedication, under the leadership of the Chief Transformation Officer and Chief Shared Services Officer, in making sure we deliver a successful webinar and continue to put CBE on the map.

The built environment is transforming, the CBE and CBEP are leading by example by championing the successful appointments of women to in leadership positions. Ms. Nosiyabonga Mongane was elected as the first female president of the South African Council for Quantity Surveying (SACQSP). We celebrate the new appointment of Ms Sarie Treeby as the Chief Financial Officer at the CBE. We take this time to congratulate our colleagues on their appointments and wish them success for the journey ahead.

On the 28 March 2023. We successfully launched the “Build a Dream, Giving” campaign which is a crowdfunding initiative for the Built Environment students. This initiative is a combined effort to register previously disadvantaged built environment students on the Feenix online platform where they will be profiled in terms of their funding requirements.

Funders and donors may pledge an amount of their choice as a contribution towards the student studies and those who have completed but are unable to graduate due to tuition debts. Let’s join hands by clicking here: https://feenix.org/campaign/96 to donate towards building a better tomorrow for the young people of this country.

To close of the Human Rights month, I was invited to present on the “Indigenous Leadership in Humanising the Built Environment” by the Prof Mazwe Majola at the Worldwide Institute of Leadership Development.

The impact of climate change is already felt across the globe, manifesting in unprecedented droughts, floods, bush fires, and other extreme weather events. The recent floodings in KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, North west and Port St Johns are some of the examples of the consequences of climate change. To mitigate the impact of climate change, urgent action is needed to improve climate resilience, and rethink urban development approaches. In response the CBE established the Environmental Sustainability Transformation Collaborative Forum which is a platform to discuss issues of climate change, promote mitigation measures and sustainable development practices. Moreover, the CBE will be hosting its inaugural Built Environment Sustainability Seminar on 04 April 2023 under the theme: “Past – Present – Future Mirror”. The seminar will be attended by the built environment professionals, academia, private sector, and the general public at the Sustainability Institute at the University of Stellenbosch in Western Cape.

Colleagues, we have reached the end of the 2022/23 financial year. Let’s work together in finalising the statutory reporting process. I wish you well for your easter holidays and safe travels.

Kind regards,

Msizi Myeza