Voorsitter van die Huis, agb minister Geoff Doidge, adjunkminister Bogopane-Zulu, hoofsweep, voorsitter en lede van die komitee, agb parlementslede, dames en here, goeie middag. Gun my die geleentheid om eerstens die moeders, vroue en kamerade van 9 Augustus 1956 te salueer vir die diep spore en sterk fondasie wat hulle gebou het.
Die ANC het reeds in 1912 geglo aan 'n nie-rassige, nie-seksistiese en 'n demokratiese Suid-Afrika. Die Vryheidshandves en al die goeie beleidsrigtings van die ANC is 'n bewysstuk daarvan. Die Polokwane- resolusies van die ANC het weereens bewys hoe belangrik gelykheid in die samelewing is. Dit is hoekom die ANC die deurlopende slagspreuk gebruik wat s "'n Beter lewe vir almal". Vandag geniet vroue en vrouebemagtiging die prioriteit, en dit bevestig die 50-50 beleid van die ANC. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[Mrs N T NOVEMBER: Chairperson of the House, hon Minister Geoff Doidge, Deputy Minister Bogopane-Zulu, Chief Whip, chairperson and members of the committee, hon Members of Parliament, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Allow me the opportunity, firstly, to salute the mothers, women and comrades of 9 August 1956 for the indelible mark they have left and the firm foundation that they have built.
In 1912 the ANC already believed in a nonracial, nonsexist and a democratic South Africa. The Freedom Charter and all the good policies of the ANC are proof of this. The ANC's Polokwane resolutions once again proved the importance of equality in society. That is why the ANC continues to use the slogan "A better life for all". Today women and the empowerment of women enjoy priority, and this is affirmed by the 50-50 policy of the ANC.]
Despite the significant progress since the establishment of our democratic government, South African society is unfortunately still characterised by racially-based income and social service inequalities. Consequently, the vast majority of South Africans remain excluded from ownership, control and management of productive assets and from access to training in strategic skills. This is not only unjust, but it inhibits South Africa's ability to achieve its full economic potential.
Since 1994, the ANC-led government has identified the construction industry in South Africa as essential to the achievement of the Reconstruction and Development Programme goals. These include housing, jobs, infrastructure development, skills and public service delivery improvement. The relationship with the industry is historical, as the ANC relied on industry to meet its development goals. Today, government has made available more than R787 billion for the next three to five years to develop infrastructure in the country, with immense benefits.
The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act 108 of 1996, states the imperative of redressing historical and social inequalities in, inter alia, the Bill of Rights, section 9, on equality and unfair discrimination. Furthermore, the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act, Act 53 of 2003, establishes a legislative framework for the promotion of broad-based black economic empowerment, BBBEE. One of the fundamental principles of this Act, as well as the many sector transformation charters, is to address gender inequality in the workplace. Provisions on the scorecards by which the transformation of organisations is measured effectively promote the employment of women as well as ownership and control by women within the business environment.
Traditionally very few women have been involved in contracting, particularly on the technical side. To a certain degree this male domination in the industry can be ascribed to discriminatory and narrow- minded thinking. There is a mindset that contracting is a man's work, and this mindset obviously needs to be eradicated as it really amounts to no more than unfair discrimination. [Applause.] There is much that can be done in this regard, and there are certain NGOs such as South African Women in Construction and Women for Housing that are doing sterling work in terms of assisting women to become more involved in the construction sector.
Evidence that affirmative action policies do, in fact, yield results comes from the experience of white women over the past 16 years. Such commendable advancement, however, betrays deliberate racial discrimination in that the higher profile of white women in senior management is a post-1994 development - the result of women being designated as a disadvantaged group and beneficiaries of affirmative action policies.
A white corporate culture has advanced white women, but continues to exclude all black women. Save for a limited number of equity transactions, to date, the construction sector continues to reflect vast inequalities in ownership, with little transformation having taken place. There are limited numbers of black women in controlling and managerial positions and in the specialised professions in larger enterprises in the sector. Black women, in particular, continue to be under-represented at board level and in executive management in the sector.
South Africa's once male-dominated construction industry has become attractive to women. The South African Women in Construction Association's database of women contractors has grown from 60 at its inception in 1999 to over 2 000. However, black participation is principally through micro and small businesses where there are also low levels of sustainability. There is little penetration of black enterprises in those components of the sector that are more capital-and knowledge-intensive. This situation is exacerbated by the absence of adequate financial and other support mechanisms for small, medium and micro enterprises, SMMEs, and the sector's inbuilt bias towards urban centres of development.
Without deliberate and effective intervention, emerging women contractors will not readily graduate to become commercially sustainable and technically proficient players in the construction industry. Failure to intervene in this space would mean that women contractors will remain trapped in the category of emerging contractors, unable to grow their businesses and to create decent jobs. They need to be identified, encouraged and supported with targeted and appropriately customised interventions which will ultimately enable them to compete in the open market with established contracting firms.
The aim must be to promote the effective advancement of employment equity in the industry to achieve a sustainable change in the racial and gender composition of ownership, control and management in the sector. Another aim must be to address skills development in a manner that accelerates the advancement of black women and designated groups, with particular emphasis on learnerships and technical and management training. The ANC welcomes the department's commitment to women empowerment. Its internal recruitment drive has seen an upsurge of women in senior management from 23% in 2007 to 46% in March 2009. Externally, it seeks to ensure that there is an increased percentage of access to opportunities for women in the traditionally male-dominated construction and property sectors. A number of these programmes have been developed at national level and include the Expanded Public Works Programme, the Emerging Contractor Development Programme and the Contractor Incubator Programme.
The South African Women in Construction Association is a national association of women entrepreneurs in all areas of the construction industry, from the skilled trades to business ownership. Realising the need to build capacity and management skills for women in the industry, this association was established in 1999. It works closely with the Development Bank of Southern Africa; the Independent Development Trust, the IDT; and government departments to build up skills, create career opportunities, and provide networking platforms for women in construction. The ANC supports the Budget Vote. [Time expired.]