Construction industry bowing to pressure

14-12-2017
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The New Age
Source

THE construction industry appears to be bowing to pressure to deal with issues of transformation in the largely white-dominated sector.

The industry under the banner of the Master Builders KwaZulu-Natal has established a forum to deal with the issues which have led to intimidation and disruptions on construction sites by aggrieved black business lobby groups.

In a memorandum circulated to members, the association said it was resolved at a recent meeting by the KZN department of community safety and liaison with relevant industry stakeholders that CIDB (Construction Industry Development Board) will play a facilitation role as per their mandate, both on the safety side and the transformation side, with issues being referred to law enforcement on safety related contraventions.

“CIDB and the Transformation Charter Council will be the facilitating point and refer transformation issues to Operation Vula, a CIDB contact person for violence and intimidation issues on sites to be appointed and the CIDB to submit an action plan within five working days,” the memo read.

In the memo, the association said it agreed with the police to create a special force to deal with intimidation and disruptions on construction sites.

“One priority with the police is to avoid delayed response times. Police precincts to be established in hot spot areas and members experiencing problems on site may call them for assistance,” the association said.

KZN police spokesperson Capt Nqobile Gwala confirmed the deal with the industry.

However, Bhamuza Mnyandu, the chairperson of Delangokubona Business Forum, one of the associations that had disrupted construction sites and demanded transformation, said the association’s attempts to deal with the crisis was not welcome as they were excluded as stakeholders.

“They have not contacted us about this issue and we are telling them that without us they will be no progress. They must understand that they are required by the law to transform or else they will face sanctions,” Mnyandu said.

He said they would not be intimidated by court interdicts as they always won whenever they were taken to court by the construction industry