Reflections on the Performance of South Africa’s Construction Industry: Hope Beyond Covid-19 Effects

Abstract

South Africa’s economic activity has declined in recent years owing its troubles to years of policy uncertainty, bad governance, corruption and limited budget and finance for the development of infrastructure. The woes are no different to the ones experienced by the construction industry. It must be categorically stated that the woes currently experienced by the industry did not begin with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic was simply the last nail to the coffin. The study thus provides a clear reflection on the dynamics and challenges that were encountered by the industry, with the hope of resuscitating it to what is used to be – a key sector in growing South Africa’s economy. A quantitative approach was adopted. Reviewed literature formed basis of secondary data whilst the distribution of a close-ended questionnaire to construction professionals, economists and researchers formed the basis of primary data collection. Snowballing sampling technique was employed. A total of 77 questionnaires were returned. SPSS was used to analyse data using mean item scores to determine the level of agreement between respondents. From the results it was clear that corruption and fraudulent activities contributed significantly to the progression of South Africa’s construction industry. Unregulated adoption of technology, political uncertainty and non-compliance to laws and safety standards emerged as key factors affecting the productivity of the industry. The adoption of advanced technologies such as robots and automated machines need to be formally regulated by government to be inclusive, this requires inclusive procurement practices to SMMEs and policy certainty and decisiveness from government. Government must be able to inform or direct business, firms who do not comply state departments must impose fines or sanctions (from bidding for government projects in the future).