TOUGH TALK It’s no surprise I’m sure, that tough talk ruled the hours we spent discussing our industry at Emperor’s Palace on September 9. But it was so much more than talk. This Congress, probably more so than any other in the history of Master Builders South Africa, was charged with the urgency of our […]
CAMERA OBSCURA This time last year, as we once again gathered to examine and discuss the state of our industry, I wrote that we lived in interesting times – not an original pronouncement, but certainly accurate for the time. And it holds true to this day 12 months later. However, we can’t say that there […]
HIGH ANXIETY As an indicator of how statistics can create either joy or despair and be wrong either way, take the first three months of 2019 when, the record shows, South Africa’s economy shrank by 3.2% – the largest drop since the notorious 2008 market crash. But as a reliable gauge of whether our country’s […]
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SILVER LINING? The term ‘life can turn on a tickey’ was never more appropriate, as South Africans, in a matter of a week, saw what they believed was a bit of a silver lining in the dark economic clouds, become a load-shedding nightmare that once again threatens to plunge us into […]
BUILDING STRONG CHILDREN If you’re looking for predictions about where South Africa is going in 2019, you’re spoilt for choice. Mainstream and social media, as well as informal opinion platforms are full of experts happy to offload their views – many of them negative. It’s a doomsday theorist’s delight, and it can be very destructive. […]
ACCOUNTABILITY It’s little wonder that South Africans are inclined to duck below the parapet as daily new disclosures of this corruption or that deception fly around the media doing untold harm to our country’s reputation. Seemingly without there being any real punishment for the perpetrators. But suddenly, somewhere in this endless inventory of misery we […]
Sink or swim – it’s your call Well, the headlines haven’t really changed – not enough to make us feel that the economic tide has actually turned. Donald Trump sent a ripple through global markets with a hell-bent withdrawal of his country from the multilateral nuclear non-proliferation accord with Iran, sending the rand, for one, […]
Not quite the “Glorious Summer” yet April 2018 The building and construction Industry in South Africa has entered a phase of cautious optimism. Things are looking up and projects are coming out of the ground. We have moved on from our desperate discontent to a season of hope, at least. And it’s clear, amid some […]
Could discontent’s winter get any colder? As a first order of business I must pay respects to my predecessor, Bafikile Bonke Simelane, not only for the highly professional way in which he conducted his presidency of Master Builders South Africa, but also for his very erudite and informed monthly Comment in our magazine. The building […]
MBSA appoints Cape property industry leader John Matthews as new national President John Matthews, Group CEO of the Cape’s oldest and largest suburban development company, Garden Cities, has been appointed President of the Master Builders South Africa (MBSA) to succeed the former President, Bafikile Bonke Simelane. Previously Vice-President of MBSA, Matthews has also held office […]