OPINION: South Africa has the resources to stem the tide of corruption in the built environment

Construction Professional Prince Lufu believes there is a large amount of material in South Africa to conduct research and develop a body of knowledge to tackle corruption in the construction industry.

The matter of state capture, causes for corruption the effect of illicit tenderpreneurship in the built environment will always be a debating matter so long as hardcore research is not conducted on the topic. It will end at lip service and electioneering and will go unchecked as all stakeholders involved in the current gravy train will maintain the status quo and no heads will roll

There is a plethora of material out there to develop a body of knowledge as to why it occurs, who conducts it, where it happens and when it occurs. There is science behind this simple art of otherwise means of operation of business as normal

The reason for assessing it in this manner is that from such studies and bodies of knowledge effective policies are evolved to tackle such can be formulated from well documented empirical examples of the scourge and the challenge

The rot cannot continue to carry on unabated and unchecked while academia and resources are present to stem the tide

The thinking is , when armed with formulae to tackle the scourge, law enforcement will have no choice but to act and deliver using their extensive resources in a precise manner

Left unabated, an entire sector of the economy will crumble to its knees from standards falling and excessive tax payer's resources not realizing the desired objective of return on investment. Bearing in mind that according to former Min of Finance, Tito Mboweni , the tax revenue is dwindling at an alarming rate. Projects are often mis-managed with unnecessary Ps and Gs costs and major oversight/lack of due diligence causing basic errors

This is food for thought for all stakeholders in this game to seek to do what is necessary to keep this industry alive

It is already enough that recession troughs are a challenge in the macro economic sense, adding factors such as Covid-19, where will the recovery come in if the endemic corruption is left unabated?

Prince Nqobani Lufu is a BSc Construction Management graduate from Nelson Mandela University with over 18 years experience in both contracting and consultancy. He has a passion for systems in particular ISO 9001 and the other Built Environment related fields. He has done research into ISO 9001 set up at Honours level. Currently he is self employed doing consultancy work in both construction management and project management

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