Programme Director;

The Director-General of Public Works and Infrastructure, Mr. Sifiso Mdakane;

Head of the PMTE, Mr. Siza Sibande;

Senior Managers;

CEOs of our Public Entities;

Presidents and Chairpersons of Regulatory Bodies and Voluntary Associations;

President of the Association of Construction Project Managers (ACPM), Mr Anthony Afordofe;

CEO of ACPM, Ms. Nomvula Rakolote;

Our valued stakeholders from academia, industry, and civil society;

Distinguished Guests;

Ladies and Gentlemen;

 

It is an honour and a privilege for me to be addressing the important gathering of built environment professionals. You are the people who design and build our infrastructure, people who build our roads, build our houses, design our cities and villages and help us deliver services to our people.

Your theme on “Public–Private Collaboration to Strengthen the Skills Pipeline” in the Built Environment is timely and speaks directly to South Africa’s infrastructure imperative.

There can be no debate that our country’s economic growth, industrialization and urban transformation depend on a robust, skilled and future ready built environment workforce.

The government’s infrastructure drive, whether under the National Infrastructure Plan 2050, the Human Settlements Development Programme, or Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission (PICC) – is only as strong as the professionals who deliver it.

At the heart of this ecosystem are the Construction Project Managers (CPMs), the integrators who translate policy into projects, concepts into contracts, and designs into functioning infrastructure.

The role of Construction Project Managers is not just technical; it is strategic, ensuring that timelines, budgets, quality and community impact align. Without them, even well-resourced infrastructure projects will fail.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), when properly structured, can catalyse both infrastructure delivery and skills transfer. However, PPPs fail when:

  • Roles between government and business are not complementary but competitive.
  • Funding risk is left entirely to private actors in projects with limited profitability (e.g., housing, social infrastructure).
  • Bureaucracy, fragmented regulation, or absence of due diligence which erode investor confidence.

These pitfalls can be avoided by ensuring transparent, equitable partnerships where each side’s strength – government’s regulatory and social mandate, and the private sector’s efficiency and innovation – complement rather than collide.

Where long-term business stability attracts sustained PPP engagement, it is crucial for government to offer policy consistency, ease of doing business, and a shared vision for skills development as part of every major infrastructure concession.

Despite South Africa’s relatively strong engineering and construction education base, there are skill gaps in several areas:

  • Construction Project Management and Contract Administration (shortage of experienced professionals able to manage complex, multi-stakeholder infrastructure projects).
  • Digital Construction Technologies (BIM, data analytics, AI) – limited integration into curricula and workplace practice.
  • Green building and sustainability expertise, required for climate resilient infrastructure.
  • Artisan and mid-level technical skills – the pipeline from TVET colleges into the construction industry remains weak.
  • Procurement and PPP financial modelling expertise, especially in public entities.

These gaps threaten the efficient rollout of major projects and compromise South Africa’s capacity to deliver infrastructure at the required scale and quality.

Compatriots, to address these gaps, a coordinated national strategy is required, anchored on public-private collaboration and academic-industry partnerships.

To build a skills pipeline and advance a collaborative agenda, the issues that this summit is seized with must find expression in South Africa’s Human Resource Development Council (HRDC) and the National Plan for Post-School Education and Training.

Government can:

  • Integrate skills development targets into PPP and infrastructure procurement frameworks.
  • Incentivise companies that provide structured mentorship, apprenticeships and graduate training.
  • Streamline professional registration pathways for young graduates.

The Private Sector can:

  • Invest in workplace learning, internships, and digital-skills development linked to ongoing projects.
  • Collaborate with universities and TVETs to co-design industry relevant curricula.
  • Support continuing professional development for emerging professionals through bursaries and secondments.

Professional Bodies and Academia can:

  • Champion research and policy innovation in construction management and project delivery systems.
  • Embed Construction 4.0 and sustainability modules in training.
  • Strengthen supervision, ethics and technical competence through accreditation systems.

Ladies and Gentlemen, professionalisation in the built environment remains at the heart of South Africa’s agenda for inclusive growth and transformation.

Professionalisation transcends qualifications and champions a culture of excellence, ethics, and accountability nationwide.

As custodians of the built environment sector, the CBE must ensure that the sector is inclusive, ethical, and truly representative of South Africa’s rich diversity.

Back in July 2023, during Budget Vote 13 of the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure, we directed that the Council for the Built Environment (CBE) must be fully engaged with implementing the Professionalisation and Capacity Building Strategy.

We expect the CBE to take a lead in improving the registration rates of black professionals and women professionals within the sector.

Most recently, on 27 October 2025, during the Special MinMEC meeting, I reiterated the urgent need for the CBE to assist our country in building capacity and training of young graduates within the built environment.

The CBE must diligently focus on skills pipeline so as to strengthen systemic capacity constraints that exist not only within the public works sector but the entire infrastructure value chain in the country.

This is a critical call to action because there remains a persistent perception—that black candidates face gatekeeping that hinders their access to professional registration, that the built environment sector continues to exclude women, and that built environment sector refuses to transform.

Statistics from the CBE 2025/26 Annual Report state that only 16 % of registered professionals are women which is a very bleak picture across various disciplines.

The exclusion of women and young people consequently limit their participation in the economic activities essential to national growth and job creation.

As a Department, our focus extends to nurturing young talent, fostering mentorship, and maintaining equity as a non-negotiable standard.

We aim for tangible impact rather than mere activity.

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is not a secret that we are facing a serious shortage of professionals in the public service, steadily worsening as many experienced professionals retire, others are emigrating and while there is a pool of about 30 000 promising candidates who are unregistered with any of the statutory councils.

This stark reality is illustrated in some provincial departments within the public works and infrastructure sector, where in some instances you find a single project manager oversees as many as 18 infrastructure projects with varying degree of complexities – a clearly unfeasible scenario for the future.

This challenge is even more acute in smaller and rural district municipalities, which desperately require competent built  professionals to implement projects and advance the imperatives of District Development Model (DDM) of effectively and efficiently bringing services to our communities.

As a Department of Public Works and Infrastructure through our Professional Services Branch, we will support the efforts that are firmly grounded in the Professionalisation and Capacity Building Strategy, which is not just a bureaucratic box-ticking exercise, but a fundamental transformational imperative.

Moreover, the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure is deeply committed to rebuilding our nation, brick by brick, and transforming our spaces and places as part of our democratic project.

We strongly believe that infrastructure rollout must be used as a tool to dismantle apartheid’s spatial geography and expand access to services to previously disadvantaged areas.

The CBE structured candidacy programme is a non-negotiable and we urge the build environment sector to comply with this when engaging young professionals. The collaboration will assist us in addressing the demand and supply dynamics within the sector.

Central to this is the work OF CBE is the implementation of the Built Environment National Logbook (BENL),an innovative and comprehensive electronic database.

The BENL will serve as a critical tool for tracking and monitoring built environment professionals, candidates, students, unemployed graduates, and artisans.

Importantly, it will ensure that government and industry stakeholders have access to accurate, real-time statistical data that is essential for data-driven decision-making.

We wish to urge you all to register in the Built Environment National Logbook, be it as a candidate, artisan,  a mentor, an employer or unemployed graduate.

While executing these interventions, we must also steadfastly uphold the highest ethical standards within the built environment.

Compatriots, accountability is another cornerstone of our mission.

It is unacceptable that public funds are invested without adequate oversight and that communities are deprived of quality infrastructure – or worse, suffer loss of life as witnessed during incidents like the George Building Collapse.

We are committed to restoring public trust through enhanced governance, strict consequence management, blacklisting of consultants and professionals and transparent reporting.

We cannot tolerate incomplete projects, cost overruns, or service providers who are blacklisted due to poor performance and who drain public resources, causing costly delays.

We will remain unapologetic: the built environment must be professionalised and transformed to guarantee meaningful participation by women and underrepresented groups.

We are duty-bound to create an environment where young people in the built environment are nurtured, mentored, and where equity and quality is non-negotiable.

Our work must translate into impact, not just activities.

It is precisely for this reason that the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure wholeheartedly supports partnerships such as the Inaugural ACPM Conference, which present invaluable opportunities to collaborate with industry stakeholders and drive forward the transformation agenda of the sector.

In this regard, we also wish to acknowledge the President of the South African Council for the Projects and Construction Management Professions (SACPCMP), Mr Lufuno Ratsiku, who works closely with the ACPM as their strategic and flagship Voluntary Association.

We also wish to pay tribute to the SACPCMP for partnering with the DPWI in the crafting of the Integrated Framework for Social Facilitation which was gazetted for public consultation and has received support from Nedlac.

This work will go far in improving the delivery of infrastructure, minimising conflict, and eliminating extortion and work stoppages at construction sites.

To improve the delivery of infrastructure, the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure remains seized with research into the feasibility of establishing the Office of the Engineer-General of South Africa (EGSA).

If established, the Office of the Engineer General will be responsible for providing overarching engineering governance, coordinating the development and maintenance of infrastructure, and promoting excellence in engineering education and practice.

The EGSA will play a key role in ensuring that infrastructure projects are executed in line with national priorities, such as sustainable development, economic growth, social equity, and the inclusion of marginalised communities.

Addressing the skills gap in the engineering sector will be a core objective of the EGSA. It is expected to play a role in supporting the continuous professional development of engineers, providing opportunities for them to upskill in areas such as digitalisation, artificial intelligence, and 4IR technologies.

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, as we conclude, let us acknowledge that Construction Project Managers are the linchpin of infrastructure delivery.

They integrate design, procurement, finance and project delivery into one coherent process.

Their professional expertise ensures that projects are completed on time, within budget, and to standard; Risks and disputes are proactively managed; and public funds are protected and efficiently utilized.

A strategic public-private skills framework should therefore prioritise CPM capacity building through recognition in the National Infrastructure Plan, through bursaries and support of certification.

To secure South Africa’s infrastructure future, it is necessary to:

  • Use PPPs not just for project financing, but as vehicles for human capital development.
  • Embed skills transfer clauses in every PPP contract.
  • Create regional Centres of Excellence for Built Environment Skills (in partnership with universities and industry).
  • Ensure transparency and accountability in partnership agreements to sustain investor and public trust.

Public-Private Partnerships are a strategic alliance for national development.

The built environment is the growth engine of the economy, and the Construction Project Manager is its driver. Therefore, South Africa can build not only infrastructure, but also the human infrastructure to sustain it, if government’s developmental mandate is aligned with private sector agility and academic innovation.

As we know, infrastructure without skills is a monument; infrastructure with skills is a legacy.

I thank you!