Industry Round Table

BRIDGING THE CHASM:

ADDRESSING THE SKILLS GAP IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY THROUGH EDUCATION

Event Details

Date: 9/10/2023, 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM
Time zone: (UTC+02:00) Harare, Pretoria
In Person Event & Microsoft Teams Meeting

It is widely understood that the construction sector of most western countries suffers from a shortage of skills which is often described as critical in periods of ‘boom’ and serious in periods of ‘bust’. This brings with it issues of declining quality, levels of rework and site health and safety infringements. These impact constructor profitability and client satisfaction.

In less developed economies where the frequency of boom and bust periods is double that found in the developed ones the problems are exacerbated. In South Africa’s case the current situation is rather perilous. The South African construction industry contributed 2.7% of total GDP in 2019, which by comparative international standards is low, with South Africa ranking 158 out of 207 countries. Other African countries performing better than South Africa include Ethiopia (17%), Tanzania (16,61%), Ghana (15,26%), Angola (13,82%) and Zambia (11,89%). The contribution has steadily declined by ±32% over the period 2016-2022 from R156 billion to R107 billion. The government announced in February 2022 infrastructure investment of more than R810bn over the next three years. The following have been cited as factors impacting the effective rollout of this huge investment:

lack of funding due to rescuing inefficient and ineffective SOEs,
maladministration and endemic corruption,
project delays,
cost overruns,
poor construction and project management,
irregular procurement, and
sub-standard workmanship in many cases.

The emergence of the construction mafia and extortion groups as an unintended consequence of a well-intentioned government initiative continue to present a substantial threat to the industry.

Against the background of a national unemployment rate of 32,9% in the second quarter of 2023, the shedding of 25,000 jobs in Q4in 2021, it is questionable whether the construction industry has the skills to deliver on the well-intentioned infrastructure investment. The situation is more critical when it is considered that the unemployment rate of youth jobseekers between 15 and 24 years old was 60,7% in Q2.

The importance and relevance of this roundtable is reinforced by the claim by the former Minister of the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure that many of the cancelled, delayed and over-budget or failed projects that are commonplace in the South African construction sector would be avoided with proper preparation – in other words proper skills. The CIDB reported that the shortage of construction skills-supply pipeline was a major risk to the sector, ranking 4th among the top 10 risks. Additionally, business confidence declined to between 30 and 40% across the sector.

The focus, therefore, of the industry roundtable organized by the Association of Schools of Construction of Southern Africa (ASOCSA) is to discuss how through education the critical skills gap in the industry can be mitigated.