Corobrik Director, Musa Shangase, was inaugurated as the new president of Master Builders South Africa (MBSA) at the Master Builders Congress on 9 September 2022. Master Builders South Africa is the leading national representative body in the building and construction industry in South Africa.

When achieving these milestones, one becomes conscious of how much one owes to friends, family and colleagues to achieve anything in this life. My appreciation goes to my employer Corobrik, the MBA North Exco, and the officers and board of MBSA itself. I am so thankful for all the wonderful friendships I have made in this organisation.

Musa Shangase

President – Master Builders South Africa

As always, the construction industry, closely reflects the overall economy and business confidence. Both are exceptionally hard to read now, but it seems as though there could be some grounds for qualified optimism if 2022 does see the forecasted economic recovery.

During his acceptance speech Musa highlighted that his priority will be to put an action plan in place to address the current issues that stand in the way of our industry. These issues include:

• Finding a workable solution to the problem of the construction mafia.
• Assisting the Department of Public Works to unblock its pipeline of projects; and
• Persuading the National Treasury to endorse the infrastructure budget tabled by the finance minister.
• Obtaining agreement from all the Associations on employment equity targets for the industry and engaging the Department of Employment & Labour on the implementation of these targets over time.

I will be leveraging all the relationships I have forged over the years to build the necessary task team to turn this action plan into reality. We have our work cut out for us, but I take comfort from the knowledge that the construction industry breeds self-reliant people who are resourceful.

The role of MBSA is to:

• promote high standards and quality of delivery in construction, through support to our members;
• promote the viewpoints and interests of the industry by engaging government and relevant regulatory bodies on national policies that affect the industry;
• promote a positive occupational health and safety culture in the industry, to reduce and eliminate occupational injury, disease, loss and any damage to the environment;
• create a sustainable building industry in South Africa by engaging related associations and relevant stakeholders on behalf of our members;

Master Builders South Africa represents its members on national bodies and lobbies national government on legislative and other policy issues. It also provides a range of services to its members that include on-going training, legal services, labour relations, building codes and standards, and regulatory compliance matters that affect the building industry.