THE SECTORS: CONSTRUCTION
CHARTER COUNCIL BATTLING A LACK OF FUNDING BY LYNETTE DICEY
CONSTRUCTION LEVEL 3 % of target achieved
Target
Construction
225,8
250,00
200,00
150,00
61,0
72,6
67,4
68,6
100,00
50,00
Black Ownership: Equity Ownership
Management and Control
The construction sector achieves a level 3 contribution rating, with its 90.82 points second only to the Agri-BEE sector. The Construction Sector Charter believes that its sector code doesn’t provide much lattitude for “box-ticking”. It makes training spend a priority, even for 100% black-owned companies. Furthermore, as the sector council’s Ingrid Campbell points out, most charter codes allow companies to write out a cheque to an NGO in return for which they receive points. It’s not that easy to get the points in the Construction Sector Charter Code. The construction sector was one of the first to develop sector specific codes with the code applying to businesses which derive more than 50% of their income from construction-related activities. The Construction Sector Charter Council was established in 2012. A year later, in 2013, the sector council published its first state of the industry research report, based on 3,500 scorecards.
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Skills Development
Enterprise and Supplier Development
SocioEconomic Development
The sector council has faced numerous challenges in recent years because its funding model has not been approved by the department of trade, industry and competition (DTIC). A proposal for the sector council to self-fund was tabled in 2017. When that proposal was refused, the charter council submitted another proposal based on the same funding model as the one tabled by the ICT Sector Charter Council. Although the ICT Sector Charter Council’s proposal was accepted, the Construction Sector Charter Council has yet to receive a response from the DTIC regarding this second proposal. In the absence of an alternative proposal from the DTIC for how the sector council should be self-sustained, volunteer associations in the sector are doing their best to keep the sector council going. However, a lack of funding is making it harder to track, measure and drive transformation in the sector. Despite these financial challenges, industry insiders speak highly of the Construction Sector Charter Council and say that the code is appropriate and fit for purpose. Suggested improvements to the codes are offered on a regular basis by the industry. Volunteers sitting on
