Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson has reflected on the work done in his department since coming into office 100 days ago.

The Minister’s focus has been on building a firm foundation in order to turn the country into a construction site and use public assets for public good.

Macpherson was appointed Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure on 3 July 2024.

Measures the Minister has implemented over the past three months include:

Reforming and strengthening the role of Infrastructure South Africa to become a single point of entry for all priority infrastructure projects to ensure that they are completed on time and within budget.

Meeting with a large number of financial institutions, technical advisory and construction specialists to drive new interest in the country’s construction book.

Tackling maladministration and corruption head-on by launching investigations into failed public sector construction projects, such as the nearly R1 billion that was spent on the Telkom Building
projects in Tshwane.

Working with municipalities such as Tshwane, eThekwini and Cape Town to establish technical task teams between the cities and the department to address problem State-owned buildings, and to work together to use State assets for the public good.

Finalising two orders in Cape Town to remove people who have invaded State-owned properties at the Castle of Good Hope and the Waterloo properties to ensure the properties are used for the public good.

Tackling the construction mafia by organising an urgent summit in KwaZulu-Natal to develop a comprehensive response to the construction mafia with Ministers in the law enforcement cluster, and Public Works Members of the Executive Council (MECs) across the country.

Improving oversight of property management by moving the Prestige Unit, which was responsible for the Nkandla scandal, back to Director General’s office, and removing the ability of officials to spend up to R20 million without Accounting Officer approval.

The Minister said while a lot
of progress has been made to bring stability to the department, these efforts need to be accelerated to turn the country into a construction site and use public assets for public good in order to grow the economy and create jobs.

‘South Africans urgently need to start seeing the fruits of our interventions. I applaud the government officials and stakeholders in both the public and private sector, who have worked tirelessly with me over the past three months. There is truly a new energy within the department to deliver on our mandate.

‘In the weeks and months ahead, we need to expedite our efforts to ensure that we get shovels into the ground, so that communities across the country can see the fruits of our work in practice.

‘In the weeks and months to come, there will continue to be difficult decisions we have to make, but the choices we make today will be to our advantage in the future,’ the Minister said.

Source: South African Government News Agency