Earlier in the year a small group of business people operating out of KwaZulu-Natal South Coast Region, committed themselves to doing what was necessary to complete a construction project, aimed at uplifting the Shozi family in the Gamalakhe township west of Port Shepstone.

Nduduzo and Ntuthuko Shozi age 15 and 16, both school going, lost their parents 3 years ago and were living in an unsafe structure with uncle Eugene Shozi, a Tuberculosis sufferer.

Ray Basson representing Master Builders KwaZulu-Natal, and George Enslin from Wakefields spearheaded the project which got underway with a sod turning ceremony on the 1st of August 2009.

In attendance were several high ranking government officials including Sports and Recreational Minister Makhenkesi Stofile, MEC for Health from the KZN Provincial Legislature, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo, The Mayor of Ugu Municipality Councillor Sithembiso Cele and Deputy Mayor Cynthia Mqwebe.

The following excellent article was penned by Paddy Hartdegen for Property24.com. It focuses on the contentious issue of low cost housing that has received much media attention of late. He also expresses strong opinions with regard to the future of the NHBRC. We thank both Paddy and Property24.com for granting us permission to republish it.

About a year ago, I wrote a highly critical column about Lindiwe Sisulu's abominable management of the Housing Department.

Among other things, I alleged that she, as the Minister of Housing, was ultimately responsible for the poor quality of houses being built, the widespread corruption in that sector and continued, shameful squandering of taxpayers' money.

The Department of Housing responded to my allegations by accusing me of bias, misrepresentation and racism (us critical white okes always get accused of being racists).

Last week, Sisulu's chickens came home to roost, as Tokyo Sexwale, who replaced Sisulu in a Ministry now called the Department of Human Settlements, roasted shoddy building contractors at a press briefing in Pretoria.

He estimated that at least R500m would have to be spent on repairing houses in KwaZulu-Natal alone because these dwellings were unfit for human habitation.

Durban, South Africa - 6 November, 2009 - For the past 10 years the safety standards of companies in the KwaZulu-Natal construction industry have surpassed those of South Africa's other provinces, but in the past two years they have dominated.

Last year KZN construction companies won eight out of the 10 categories that make up the Annual Construction Industry's Health and Safety Competition held by Master Builders South Africa (MBSA).

"We did not think we could exceed that record," said Neels Nortje Health and Safety manager at Master Builders Association KZN, "But to our astonishment and delight we won nine out of the 10 categories this year."

Scoring was high with the winners exceeding 92%. The finalists were very close at just under 90% making the judges' decision-making process a difficult task.
It must be noted that in the scoring criteria an essential element is that the judges have to take cognisance of the Disabling Injury Frequency (DIF) rate. Companies with the safest sites have the lowest DIF rates.

The Department of Labour's Chief Inspector of Occupational Health and Safety (OHS), Thobile Lamati addressed delegates at a Health and Safety Conference held at the Master Builders KwaZulu-Natal Westville office recently.
 
Lamati's topic, "New Corporate Culture - Embracing Occupational Health and Safety", covered work safety as part of Corporate Social Responsibility. He referred to the King 3 Report that was launched on 1 September 2009 and how it will impact on corporate reporting, which will now have to include Occupational Health and Safety performances and not just the organizations financial status.
 
Lamati went on to explain the synergy between Occupational Health & Safety and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). "OHS is an important aspect of CSR since workforce safety is one of the aspects used to measure companies overall progress in CSR and must include product and workforce safety and health, as well as labour standards and working conditions, equal opportunity and access to employment" said Lamati.

It is claimed that Competition Legislation is about protecting consumers and promoting greater access and participation of new entrants into the economy.  Economies where there is a fair level of market attestability will receive more investment.

It is often claimed that South Africa boasts a modern industrial economy, sophisticated and complex but, when compared with similar economies, has a long way to go.  It may only now be coming of age.

It is claimed that due to the high levels of concentration of capacity in certain sectors of the economy, together with tight oligopolies - a small number of large enterprises that collectively exert control over supply and a market - provided fertile conditions for anticompetitive conduct.

Government is bidding to break the stranglehold of cartels in line with international trends.  In 1998 a new Competition Act was passed and promulgated which is changing the landscape.  The Competition Commission which was a creation of the Act initially concentrated on merger control but in recent years have started focusing on anticompetitive behaviour such as cartels. It, however, has a long way to go before it can catch-up with some first world economies. 

We all know that nothing is as certain as change, and the press has in recent months contained many reports on the ruling party's healthcare proposals.  But what exactly are these, and how will they affect each of us?

Proposals to 'reform' healthcare in SA are nothing new. The word 'reform' itself should not be interpreted to mean that our entire system is in need of reform - in fact, only certain parts are.   Not so long ago there were proposals to levy special income taxes on all taxpayers to fund a "free" national healthcare system.  Again, the word 'free' is misleading, since all healthcare comes at a cost. These proposals came to naught.

Now certain spokesmen are again making pronouncements which might lead one to believe that the entire healthcare system will be replaced by a State run system, and this will happen during the current administration's term of office. The fact of the matter is that out of the total expenditure on healthcare, some 42% is funded by medical schemes, some 43% by the State (ie the taxpayer) and some 10% by out-of-pocket payments by citizens who do not wish to use public hospitals but are not members of medical schemes. To imply that private healthcare is the cause of poor public healthcare delivery is to misrepresent the true position.

Disputes occur every day but the way they are resolved can have a huge impact on the business, it's relationships and profitability.  That is why mediation makes business sense.

Traditionally conflicts and disputes are managed and resolved through adversarial argument or process.  Often this begins with the way we communicate or talk with one another and translates into the types of process we select to resolve conflicts and disputes at a more formal level.  The aim is to persuade others to agree with our position or point of view and the need to win is a powerful source of self-esteem.

There is one crucial factor that makes mediation different from most other forms of dispute resolution.  Nobody tells the disputing parties who is right and who is wrong.  The need to establish blame or to win the argument is completely removed.  Instead the mediation process concentrates on helping the parties to focus on the best solution to their problem so that they can get on with their lives.

The following is a media statement issued by Minister Blade Nzimande on 4 November 2009 pertaining to the transfer of the Skills Development and Training Sector to the Department of Higher Education and Training:

From Sunday, 1 November 2009, the Department of Higher Education and Training assumed responsibility for the skills development and training sector in government. This is an exciting development in the post-election restructuring of government to be more responsive to the developmental, social and economic needs of our country.

We are now responsible for a range of institutions and public entities which were previously distributed across both the Departments of Education and of Labour. The Ministry of Higher Education and Training also hosts the secretariat of the human resource development strategy for South Africa, which is led by the Deputy President.