Minister Dean Macpherson: Press Briefing on the South African Construction Action Plan (SACAP)

Director General Sifiso Mdakane
Deputy Director General for Construction Project Management, Batho Mokhothu
Members of the media
Ladies and gentlemen

Good afternoon,

Let me start by saying that I understand the frustration that every South African has towards incomplete and slow government-run construction projects.

They are tired of excuses into why there are so many incomplete projects and why buildings are being left abandoned.

They are tired of the delays, and the lack of accountability that has plagued our sector for too long.

And they are right to feel that way.

I feel that way too.

And as the Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, I have to do something about it.

I see what South Africans see: the waste, the inefficiency, the loss of confidence in the state’s ability to build.

Yesterday, I convened a special meeting with Members of the Executive Council for Public Works and Infrastructure (MinMec) in Johannesburg and the leadership of public works & infrastructure departments across the country, to agree on a new programme of action which is a shared commitment to fix the fundamentals of how this sector works.

That plan, which we are unveiling today, is called the South African Construction Action Plan, or SACAP.

It is a framework of collective and individual accountability, a plan that sets measurable targets, real timelines, and enforceable consequences.

Every official and accounting officer will now be measured against these metrics, and if they are unwilling to comply, they will have to make way for those who will.

From today, those who cannot or will not deliver will be held accountable, whether they are contractors, consultants, or officials.

This plan is built on the belief that South Africa can deliver, and that the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure can once again become the engine that drives economic growth and job creation.

Yes, we face challenges.

But we also have pockets of excellence within our department and across the country that prove what is possible when systems work.

Provinces such as Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Western Cape have demonstrated strong project performance, monitoring and consistent delivery, lessons we are now institutionalising across the sector.

KwaZulu-Natal is a great example of how strong leadership in government delivers results from a poor baseline to being one focused on delivery.

We are not starting from zero; we are building on what works and discarding what has failed us.

The plan we are unveiling today is built on six key actions that address the root causes of underperformance and put in place the systems and standards we need to restore delivery.

Action One: Introduce accountability and contractor blacklisting

The first action of SACAP is accountability.

For too long, underperforming contractors have operated with impunity.

They fail on one site, only to resurface in another province under a new name or company number. That will come to an end.

From today, all national and provincial departments will establish Restriction Committees to work with the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) in identifying and blacklisting defaulting contractors.

These committees will compile and submit lists of non-performing companies to prevent repeat offenders from securing new state contracts. This database will be then used to reference companies and individuals who have been blacklisted.

If you have failed the state once, you will not be given a second chance to waste public funds.

In addition, all departments will enforce catch-up plans on stalled or delayed projects, with progress reports submitted quarterly to MinMec.

These reports will track performance against milestones and costs, and where progress is not made, contracts will be terminated, and consequences will follow.

This is not about punishment for its own sake; it’s about restoring integrity.

The days of doing business with the government without delivering are over.

Accountability will be built into every level of this system, from the project site to the boardroom.

Action Two: Fixing cash-flow constraints

Our second action deals with money, how it moves, when it moves, and whether it moves at all.

Cash-flow mismanagement is one of the biggest reasons projects stall.

Budgets are approved but not released on time.

Contractors go unpaid for months.

Work stops.

Costs climb.

And the public bears the consequence.

To end this cycle, we are advocating for the introduction of strict ring-fencing of project budgets.

Our goal is to work with the National Treasury, provincial treasuries and departments to ensure that infrastructure funds are protected and cannot be diverted to other uses.

This intervention alone will yield big results.

It is proposed that a Joint National–Provincial Subcommittee will oversee this and report quarterly to MinMec on progress made with various treasuries.

This committee will monitor payments, prevent diversion of funds, and intervene where disbursements are delayed.

The principle is simple: if a project is budgeted for, it must be funded fully, timeously, and transparently.

We cannot build hospitals, schools, or police stations if the money meant for those projects is diverted to other needs halfway through the construction.

This reform will bring certainty to contractors, restore financial discipline, and make sure that every cent reaches the ground where it is meant to.

Action Three: Introduce digital infrastructure tracking

The third action of the South African Construction Action Plan is about visibility—knowing what’s happening, where, and when.

We cannot fix what we cannot see.

Too often, different provinces have used different systems, producing inconsistent and incomplete data.

Without accurate information, decision-making becomes slow, and accountability becomes impossible.

To change this, by March 2026, every Public Works department, national and provincial, will implement a digitised, integrated Asset Information Management System based on modern Enterprise Resource Planning, or ERP, technology.

This will enable real-time tracking of every construction project in South Africa: the contractor, the timeline, the budget, and the physical progress.

For the first time, we will have a unified, live dashboard that shows where projects stand, what risks they face, and what interventions are required.

This reform will also integrate financial, procurement, and asset data, bringing transparency to how we plan, build, and maintain infrastructure.

Digitisation is how we move from reports written after failure to action taken before failure.

It’s how we build a culture of proactive management, not reactive damage control.

When we can see the full picture, we can act faster, allocate resources better, and hold people accountable sooner.

This will also allow us to publish quarterly data to the public so they can see first-hand the progress that is being made.

Action Four: Procurement reform

Our fourth action under SACAP focuses on procurement, the nerve centre of delivery.

Every Public Works department will now launch a Procurement War Room, a hub that brings together supply chain specialists, legal advisors, engineers, and project managers to monitor awards in real time.

These War Rooms will identify blockages, speed up evaluations, and ensure that projects move from bid to site without unnecessary delay.

Departments will also conduct process reviews and benchmarking exercises to modernise systems, eliminate duplication, and align turnaround times with national best practice.

We have also agreed that any tender above a certain value threshold will now be tracked through SACAP’s digital dashboard, meaning that the progress of critical bids can be monitored at both provincial and national level. This level of oversight will not only improve delivery but also strengthen transparency and restore confidence in the procurement system.

Action Five: Strengthening audit and governance outcomes

The fifth action is about governance, the unglamorous but essential foundation of credibility.

For years, the Public Works & Infrastructure sector has faced repeated audit findings: from irregular expenditure and unauthorised work to weak billing systems and poor asset registers.

These are not small issues.

They are symptoms of a deeper problem—a lack of internal control and consequence management.

Under SACAP, we are fixing that.

National and provincial departments will now work directly with the Auditor-General of South Africa to address audit findings in real time, rather than waiting for them to accumulate at the end of the year.

Departments will also enforce financial controls to ensure that every project, every lease, and every transaction is fully accounted for.

This includes addressing the persistent issue of non-payment between government entities, particularly where departments owe Public Works for accommodation or project costs.

It cannot be right or fair that Public Works is held accountable for non-delivery, and rightfully so, but those departments that don’t pay on time or divert budgets are not held equally responsible through audit findings.

We have made good progress with the AG on this and hope to advance this further in the next audit cycle.

We are also implementing a Policy on Internal Indemnity and Accountability, which will make it easier to hold both project managers and service providers responsible for lapses in performance or oversight.

Clean governance is not a compliance exercise. It must become the baseline for public works.

Every rand spent must bring value to the people who paid it.

Action Six: Professionalising the built environment in the public sector

The sixth and final action is about people, the professionals who plan, design, and deliver the infrastructure that South Africans depend on.

We cannot build a capable state without capable professionals.

We need engineers who can design resilient bridges, architects who can build modern clinics, and project managers who can manage costs and timelines with precision.

By June 2026, all built-environment professionals working for or contracted by Public Works departments will be required to be registered with their statutory councils, such as the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) or the South African Council for the Project and Construction Management Professions (SACPCMP).

We are also introducing a Professionalisation Programme in partnership with the Council for the Built Environment (CBE) and the National School of Government, aimed at strengthening ethics, competence, and accountability.

This will not only raise professional standards but also reduce our over-reliance on external consultants, ensuring that the skills to build the country reside inside the state, not outside of it.

It’s about restoring pride in public service and rebuilding the state’s technical backbone, a professional corps that delivers with integrity and skill.

Conclusion

Together, these six actions form the backbone of the South African Construction Action Plan—a decisive framework to rebuild delivery and accountability.

They represent a comprehensive turnaround framework; a plan rooted in performance, accountability, and partnership.

Each resolution adopted at MinMec has a clear timeframe, implementing authority, and quarterly reporting mechanism.

I must pay tribute to our Public Works family including the Deputy Minister and MECs from the nine provinces.

They have bought fully into this plan and is a result of their and our determination to make our communities better.

Furthermore, our technical team headed by our Director General, Heads of Department and the DDG for Construction Project Management have done a lot of heavy lifting to bring this document to life.

There is currently R14 billion in construction projects being designed, planned and constructed across all national and provincial Public Works & Infrastructure departments.

These include major works such as the 85 Anderson Street redevelopment in Johannesburg, a R707 million project that is already 64% complete, employing over 210 local workers and 22 SMMEs, and training more than 100 young people through the EPWP.

At the same time, the Department has a large portfolio of tender-ready projects worth hundreds of millions more, which will enter construction by the end of this financial year, injecting further capital into local economies and supporting my commitment to “turn South Africa into a construction site.”

But it is essential that these projects are all carried out on time and within budget, which is why we have adopted the South African Construction Action Plan, or SACAP.

For too long, we have been starting construction on major projects but have failed to complete them.

We are turning the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure into the economic delivery unit of South Africa, one that builds faster, cleaner, and smarter.

What I’ve shared today is our honest assessment of where things stand, and this is our collective response.

We are not sugar-coating the problems.

We are saying publicly that the system has failed too often, but that it can and will be fixed.

The turnaround will not happen overnight.

Construction and infrastructure take time.

But progress can and will be measured, transparently, quarterly, and publicly, through the SACAP reporting framework.

Through public feedback, data transparency, and consistent reporting, we will rebuild trust between the state, the industry, and the public.

That is how confidence in this sector will be restored.

We will further expand on this at the second National Construction Summit which will be held at the Birchwood Conference Centre in Gauteng from 13–14 November.

To the people of South Africa: we have heard your frustration.

We have seen what you have seen, and we are acting with the urgency you deserve.

I ask that you hold us accountable and report non-compliance so that we can act on it and hold people accountable.

Together, we can turn South Africa into a construction site, one that grows the economy, creates jobs, and restores pride in public infrastructure.

I will now invite the Deputy Director-General for Construction Project Management, Batho Mokhothu, to elaborate on the implementation details and the monitoring framework of SACAP.

Thank you.

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