On 11 October 2024, the Council for the Built Environment (CBE) hosted the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee at their Pretoria offices. The visit was part of a week-long capacity building training that was facilitated by the National School of Government, which culminated into a visit to the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) and all its entities.

In her opening remarks, the DPWI Portfolio Committee Chairperson Ms. Carol Phiri alluded to the fact that President Cyril Ramaphosa made a call to turn South Africa into a construction site, and it should be the CBE that leads us towards that goal. The Portfolio Committee applauded the CBE’s innovation of creating the Built Environment National Log Book (BENL), a comprehensive electronic database to track and monitor built environment professionals, artisans, and candidates. The Portfolio Committee further commended the CBE on its 100% achievements of it targets contained in 2023/2024 annual report, which reflected the entity’s focus on transformation through a consistent focus on the empowerment of women, youth, and persons with disabilities.

The Portfolio Committee also commended the CBE for achieving a clean audit for the eighth consecutive year.

The Committee also commended CBE on how it’s addressing complexities of the industry. It had also found innovative ways to deal with budget cuts to effectively fulfill its mandates.

CBE Council Chairperson Ms. Amelia Mtshali expressed her gratitude for the committee’s leadership, noting the significance of the interaction and the committee’s recognition of the CBE’s contributions to the sector. This provided an opportunity to discuss key initiatives and challenges, including financial constraints that impact the CBE’s work. She also emphasised the commitment to expanding the involvement of women, youth, and persons with disabilities in built environment professions.

“As the CBE, we believe there is a pressing need for a legislative review of the built environment sector. Questions have been raised about ‘how can we do better?’ So one of the areas we’ve focused on is expanding the built environment footprint, particularly within the academic chain. Looking across our nine provinces, Mpumalanga does not have an institution that offers the built environment qualifications. In Limpopo, only the University of Venda (UNIVEN) offers Built Environment qualifications, and even then, it’s only a small portion. In the Eastern Cape, we have concluded a Memorandum of Understanding with Walter Sisulu University to address this gap and expand the built environment offerings across the country. We need the Committee’s support to achieve this objective,” stated the CBE CEO, Dr. Msizi Myeza.

A full recap of the oversight visit, including key discussions and outcomes, is available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/live/c6D3FWt_dbU?si=GNe65UpI8y3zCh-4