Executive Mayor, Mashilo
Representatives from government departments and the private sector
Members from the South African Youth Council
Members of the Youth Commission
Our young leaders
Distinguished guests

Five days ago, we gathered in Solomom Mahlangu Stadium to commemorate one of the most historical epochs in our fight against colonialism and apartheid. 16 June 1976 is one of the defining moments of youth heroism where young people demonstrated their agility and commitments in fighting for their own freedom. As we were gathering, we were paying homage to the martyrs of the struggle who paid the highest sacrifice to set us free. This year's commemoration was under the theme: "Deepening youth participation through service." In compliance of the adopted theme this youth in construction summit theme is "Deepening youth participation through service and partnership." This Summit is a culmination of the discussion we had with the South African Youth Council and the Mpumalanga Youth Commission. The aim is to provide a platform for young people and other stakeholders to discuss problems, challenges and constraints affecting the construction environment.

This Summit is part of the series of events that have been planned throughout the month of June to commemorate the contribution and sacrifice of the young heroes and heroine in ushering the new democratic dispensation. As young people, you should pride yourself of the efforts you have made to bring our country to where it is. Since the new dispensation, no one can doubt the great milestone the nation has achieved in improving the livelihood of our people. The Executive Council identified five flagship projects for special attention and deployed resources to implement them. These flagship programmes are the two economic development corridors, namely: the Maputo and Moloto development corridors, the revitalisation of our tourism industry by sponsoring the restoration, preservation and packaging of our heritage and the greening of Mpumalanga to become South Africa's green region through conservation management, the roll out of water infrastructure to provide water for all in the province in a sustainable way and the acceleration of management capacity building to attain efficiency and excellency in delivering the vision for a better life across all spheres of government.

As part of reclaiming our history and heritage, I had pleasure seven days ago to participate in the official launch of the "Mpumalanga history and heritage book" at the Botshabelo heritage site, and subsequently also participated in the launch of the Mpumalanga and heritage book in Cape Town on Tuesday. South Africa remains one of the few countries in the world where young people continue to play an important role in political and socio-economic spheres of their country. As we approach the 2010 Soccer World Cup, all government departments are providing a wide range of programmes aimed at ensuring the effective participation of young people in the mainstream of the economy. It is estimated that R50 billion will be injected into the South African economy in preparation for the world cup. As the government, we have to develop programmes aimed at ensuring that young people are properly empowered with skills so that they are able to benefit from the economic spin offs generated by the World Cup. The built environment is set to grow strongly in the next five years as a result of increased infrastructure spending by government as part of the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (AsgiSA).

It is estimated that government will spend more than R350 billion to ensure that this happens. This investment will have a direct impact on the skills requirements of the construction industry and will put even more pressure on the small pool of professionals and artisans in the built environment. This means that the country will be R350 billion richer in infrastructural investment. It also means that consultants are guaranteed the availability of R35 billion worth of income, if marked up at 10% and R70 billion, if marked up at 20%. It means R31,5 billion income to the contractors if marked at 10% and R63 billion income, if marked at 20%.

A question that remain is how much of this will go to the youth? Will it walk to the youth or be delivered to them or accessed by the youth? Do the youth know about this? Do they know how to access these opportunities? Do we have enough young consultants and contractors? Do they have what it takes to participate in this industry and how to position themselves for this? On the other hand, what this means is that a R350 billion worth of infrastructure would have been invested that will require maintenance at a minimum cost level of 10% of the total cost as per standards. This means that a further minimum of R35 billion will be required to maintain this invested infrastructure per year, hence demand skilled human resources to carry them out. The huge investment infrastructure demand that young people should consider life time careers such as plumbers, bricklayers, welders, electrician, motor mechanic and boilermakers in order that they become employable and are able to create jobs for themselves.

These skills are also critical if we are to reach the target of 6% growth and achieve the 2014 vision to halve unemployment and poverty. In this regard, our youth formation have got a critical role to play in sensitising young people to understand the value of vocational training and technical skills in the context of a growing economy and developmental state. As part of our departmental Outreach programme, we have met with contractors and consultants. We have listened attentively to the challenges, frustrations and inputs made by these stakeholders. This Summit is as a result of these interactions. This Summit will be followed by a Summit on Women in Construction in August which will culminate to a Provincial Construction Summit which will involve the Construction Industry Development Board, Further Education and Training (FET) colleges and other stakeholders of the construction fraternity. Amongst other things which should be addressed by this Summit are the following:

* the participation and the accessing of opportunities for young professionals
* the exodus of experienced professionals in the construction environment
* recruitment and retention strategy to curb the declining pool of ageing professionals
* the declining standard and poor quality in the construction and provision of infrastructure
* the sustainability of the construction industry and professional development and customer care of the industry
* quality assurance
* encourage young people to enrol with further education and training colleges for building industry skills development.

As the Provincial Government, our commitment has been loud and clear in supporting youth owned Small Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) and co-operatives. The challenge is on young people themselves to define the role they can play to make sure that job opportunities are created. This will require the creation and the attraction of possible market and business opportunities for young entrepreneurs and exposing young entrepreneurs to economic opportunities. As part of implementing the resolutions taken in the Procurement Summit held previous in this same venue with the participation of the National African Federated Chambers of Commerce (NAFCOC), we will ensure that government officials involved in supply chain management are available to share information with young entrepreneurs on how to access businesses in government.

The establishment of supply chain management directorates has placed departments in a better footing to actively promote economic development policies. We have to ensure that our procurement prescripts and strategies are designed in such a way that we are able to spend more aggressively to drive youth and black economic empowerment. As we construct these projects, we must ensure that critical skills are transferred to the hands of the youth. Our effective participation in the global economy is dependent on how we interact on the following issues:

* information technology
* knowledge production
* human resources
* refocusing of our institutions in the provision of skills required by the construction industry.

It has been proven beyond reasonable doubt that knowledge production has become central to globalisation and economic development. It is critical therefore that we must produce enough graduates in economic based fields, science and engineering to compete in the global market place. The current situation has indicated that in the construction industry we have only been able to retain half the number of artisans we had in the late 1980s although the economy has become bigger than it was. This summit therefore provides an opportunity for interaction to come up with practical strategies that will help young people realise their dreams of actively participating in the built environment. It is with great sense of pride to report that the province has made a remarkable progress with regard to the implementation of the National Youth Service programme.

This programme offers an opportunity for young people to become creators of their own jobs and to learn new skills and patriotic values whilst at the same time contribution to the well being of their communities. The department has also started an emerging contractor training programme to help emerging businessmen in the construction industry. On Friday 9 March 2007, the department launched the province's first Sakh' abakhi contractor development programme at Nsikazi Stadium. The 82 small contractors that are registered on the programme will undergo a two year training programme while they are building school projects, such as classrooms, libraries, kitchens and administration blocks. Of our contractors, the majority is under 35, therefore youth, while 57% are women and two are disabled. It is a good example of the versatility of the construction industry, as it illustrates that persons with good business skills can also become involved in this way.

The Mpumalanga Department of Public Work is also the co-ordinator of the provincial Expanded Public Works Programme or EPWP, whose aim is to create short term employment for unemployed, unskilled persons from three targeted groups, namely youth, women and the disabled. Our commitment in sustaining our democracy should not only be demonstrated in words or slogans but through our practical involvement in voluntary work and activities which seek to bring development in the lives of our young people. The summit is not about delivery of opportunities only, but also about enhancing access. It is my wish that this summit should not be a talkshop that will just result in a long wish list or feel good kind of a programme, but I hope to be assisted with identification of challenges faced by the youth, what process can we put in place to respond to them.

Do we hope that the outcome of this summit will tell us what opportunities are available in the built industry? How is the level of access to these opportunities, what are the limitation, what must be done? Access to finance, development challenges and what programmes to be put in place to mitigate the challenges; exit strategy from public investment. These issues must be done with consultants, prospective contractors, entry level contractors, medium contractors and established contractors. We must also discuss how we are going to prepare ourselves to participate in built and property industry in the province. These are the least expected outcomes on my part. I believe that this kind of outcome will allow us to transform the built and property industry and ensure meaningful participation of the youth. I wish you well all the best in your constructive deliberation.

I thank you.

Issued by: Mpumalanga Provincial Government
22 June 2007