MBA Boland celebrates its 70th anniversary

MBA Boland celebrates its 70th anniversary

November 2018 saw Master Builders Association (MBA) – Boland celebrate its 70th anniversary in its home town of Paarl in the Western Cape.

Association members, office bearers, Presidents past and present, industry stakeholders and sponsors were in attendance at this splendid Gala Dinner which coincided with the MBA Boland AGM. Furthermore, delegates and directors from Master Builders South Africa, all MBAs around the nation and Federated Employers Mutual Assurance Company (FEM) converged on the town, making this auspicious occasion one of the most memorable in the continuing history of South Africa’s Master Builders.

Delivering his President’s report for 2018, current president of MBA Boland, André Dempers, used the opportunity to thank long-standing members for their loyalty and service.
“I would firstly like to thank everyone for their support over the past four years.

My thanks in particular to the executive committee and the director for all their input and insights during our meetings. And thank you to everyone attending here tonight.

As you all know, this year marks our 70th year, and thus it is an honour for me to pay my respects to our founding members,” said Dempers.

He noted that the building industry in the MBA Boland area has, as was the case in the rest of the country, suffered due to extremely tough economic circumstances, placing many developers and contractors under severe pressure.

While the local political developments in December last year saw the value of the rand appreciating significantly along with improved ratings, the country’s economic health remained uncertain.

A decrease in capital spending by both the private sector and government, had a negative effect of unprecedented proportions on the sector’s growth.

Although President Ramaphosa brought some much-needed hope to our country’s economic outlook when he took over in the first quarter of 2018, the numbers have supported the belief that “Ramaphoria” has taken a knock.

Dempers gave special thanks to the Director of MBA Boland, Daniël Uys and his staff: administrator Elsabé Naude and three health and safety advisors Willem Liebenberg, Maxine Dempers and Sunil Moonsamy. Every year, together with the Executive Committee, they improve on goals set and this year they have taken MBA Boland to the next level in the field of health and safety.

Uys has put numerous systems in place with the aim of improving service delivery at the MBA Boland offices. A number of advertising and marketing campaigns were launched to ensure that everyone knows who MBA Boland is and what it stands for.

On Occupational Health and Safety
Dempers expressed his gratitude to FEM for their continued support. The safety service has again grown to be invaluable to the Association’s members. “Willem and his team of safety consultants are well received on sites and we urge members to use this service and expertise. They are quite capable to assist with any situation. We have four vehicles for health and safety to ensure that we can cover more sites for members.”

MBA Boland’s safety officers provide assistance and advice to members who also have the option to contract the service to do all the site safety paperwork at a modest fee.

“While it is practically not viable to visit every single site, we are happy to report that we have conducted approximately 448 site visits. We also presented 57 different courses, which were attended by 474 people,” said Dempers. The safety team successfully implemented 106 SHE Management Systems at members’ premises throughout the year.

Skills training
“The lack of skills is probably our biggest challenge and MBA Boland continues to assist our members with skills training. We view training in this area as a high priority and members will notice that all types of training is already planned for the new year.

Only too often does our industry get accused of shoddy workmanship. It is therefore of utmost importance that we continue to up-skill our workforce.”

Dempers said that in any growing economy, the biggest employer is the construction industry and MBA Boland is proud to be associated with many training initiatives which include the development of foremen, health and safety representatives, fire-fighting, incident investigators, first aid and scaffold erectors and inspectors, as well as fall protection plan developers.

The Association is also in consultation with Boland College to assist students with their practical training phases.

Membership

“It is my pleasure to announce that we continue to grow,” stated Dempers.
“Interaction with our members is very important to us as it is a great way of realising the forever changing needs of our members. With the assistance of our members and our Executive Committee, I am more than pleased to report that even with the loss of members due to our financial building crisis that we now have 280 members compared to 253 of the previous year.”

Finances
“MBA Boland’s finances are strong due to good management, and we thank the director for additional sources of income which are starting to show more and more on our financial statements,” he continued.

During the compilation of the budget, the Executive Committee made a suggestion that membership fees for the 2018/2019 year be increased by 7% to help cover rising costs.
Dempers thanked Collette Williams for her help and contribution toward ensuring a healthy bookkeeping system is maintained.

Building Industry Bargaining Council (BIBC)
By definition, a bargaining council aims to provide a forum for collective bargaining by which settlement on matters of joint interest can be reached through negotiations.

The two employer bodies, being the MBA Western Cape and the MBA Boland, continue to have an extremely good relationship with the various employee bodies that are made up of the various trade unions on the council.

The Building Dispensation Board plays an integral role in our industry and thus is also worthy of mention.

Financially the BIBC is very well positioned and MBA Boland take this opportunity to thank the secretary, Ronel Sheehan, for their continued efforts and sound management.
“I would like to thank all those at the various MBA’s and the BIBC for their, often unnoticed, hard work done, ensuring a peaceful and stable workforce.”

Conclusion
“I would like to specifically honour all the previous Presidents of the MBA Boland, and thank them for the zeal with which they have helped to build an association that truly exists to serve the industry and all the members.

Many of you have played a massive part in the building and growth of the association over the past 70 years.

On behalf of all the members, I would also like to thank every member of the personnel who have never shied away from walking the extra mile to be of service to our members.

My thanks to all the members of the executive committee for their dedication and passion over the past year.

Their inputs and debates have been of the highest quality and always in the interest of the industry and the members of the MBA Boland.

To the new committee, all the best. I am looking forward to working with you during the next year. It has been an honour and privilege to serve the Association. I look forward to another year of office.”

André Dempers
PRESIDENT – MBA BOLAND

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MBA Boland Past-Presidents present at the 70th anniversary function:
Hans van der Sluys and his wife Alta. Sluys is also the longest living Past President of MBA Boland;
Johann Dempers and his wife Ada. Dempers is also a Past-President of MBSA;
Gielie du Toit and his wife Elbie;
Dirk van Niekerk and his wife Bretchen;
Timo van Essen and his wife Doedtie;
William Clift and his wife Sandra;
Deon Roux and his partner Therize;
Ms Annagret Homan and her husband Charles;
Morné de Jager and his wife Alinda;

MBSA Past-Presidents present:
Ms Eunice Forbes, who is also an Honorary Life member of MBSA;
Nico Maas and his wife Hettie. Maas is also a Past President of MBSA and is Chairman of the FEM Board;
Johann Dempers and his wife Ada;

VIPs and Office Bearers present:
Current MBSA President, John Matthews and his wife Brenda;
CEO of Federated Employers’ Mutual Assurance, Ms Ndivhuwo Manyonga and her team;
Regional Manager of SAFCEC Western Cape, Rudolf Murray and his wife Magda;
Wilson Poni, Vice Chairman of the Building Industry Bargaining Council Board and his wife Rose;
From the BIBC: Ms Ronel Sheehan and her husband Nathan and Mike Caldecott and his partner Roanne;
All Board members of MBSA;
Current MBA Boland President, André Dempers and his wife Melanie;
Former Director of MBA Boland, Pierre le Roux and his wife Zonika;
All Directors of MBA’s nationwide and their spouses;
Executive Committee members of MBA Boland.