MEDIA RELEASE

08 March 2017

NHBRC invests over R30 million to drive its transformation agenda

Today the National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC) announced that it will be spending more than R30 million in the new financial year starting on 1^st of April 2017 in its efforts to bring about transformation in the home building industry.

Addressing the NHBRC Transformation Charter launch, Deputy Minister of Human Settlements Ms Zou Kota-Fredericks, MP said transformation and economic empowerment must be driven aggressively in the home building environment.

“It is critical to note that the radical economic transformation programme is not a stand-alone programme as it has no special budget and should be an integral part of each and every department and all entities of government. It calls on all of us to revisit the Preferential Procurement Act so as to respond adequately to this issue,” said Kota-Fredericks.

The launch was hosted in partnership with the Department of Human Settlements (DHS) as part of the 2017 International Women’s Day celebrations.

NHBRC Acting Chairperson of Council, Ms Julieka Bayat said one of the biggest challenges in achieving an effective transformation programme in the industry is the lack of adequate skills and we will be investing most of this money in the upskilling our most vulnerable groups: Women, Youth, People living with Disabilities and Military Veterans.

“Women are particularly under-represented with respect to ownership, control and the management of companies involved in the housing value chain as well as in terms of technical skills.  Also, the high unemployment rate, especially of our youth has heightened the need for us to aggressively pursue transformation of the sector so as to create self-employment opportunities,” said Bayat.

The NHBRC’s transformation charter seeks to address issues that relate to the advancement of equal economic opportunities in the human settlements value chain in order to optimise meaningful participation of vulnerable groups such as Women, Youth, People living with Disabilities and Military Veterans.

“As the NHBRC we believe that our transformation charter will assist us in unlocking obstacles to and the effective participation by the identified groupings, it further asserts measureable goals for us to achieve on the road to a radically transformed home building industry” she said.

We also wish to demonstrate our support towards government’s efforts of promoting social and economic transformation.

Ends//

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact Molebogeng Taunyane on 011 317 0070/ 082 646 8663 or email molebot@nhbrc.azurewebsites.net

About the NHBRC

The National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC) is an agency of the Department of Human Settlements which is responsible for the protection of housing consumers and to regulate the home building industry. The NHBRC also offers services such as enrolment of new homes, home builder registration, home building inspections, builder training, geotechnical and materials engineering. In the 2015/16 financial year the NHBRC trained 1623 youth, 256 artisans, 111military veterans and 2464 emerging home builders. Of the total 1 623 youth trained, 65% (1 062) are females and 35% are male. For more inforation: nhbrc.azurewebsites.net. Twitter: @NHBRC Facebook: NHBRCSA 0800 200 824.

Designated Groups	Indicator	Target	Baseline(Current Figures)
Women	Percentage of Procurement from Women Owned Businesses	30% of the total procurement	29.35%
	Percentage of Women Employees	At least 50% of the workforce	54% of the workforce
	Women representation in Senior Management	50% of Senior Management	55% of Senior Management
	Number of Women contractors developed through skills development programmes	100 per annum through the GIBS Program 1800 trained per annum on Home Building Skills	100 per annum through the GIBS Program 1800 trained per annum on Home Building Skills
Youth	Percentage of Procurement from Youth Owned Businesses	30% of the total procurement	24%
	Percentage of Employees who are classified as Youth	At least 30% of the workforce	40% of the workforce
	Number of Youth Trained in home construction & related fields	2000 per annum	2000 per annum
People living with Disabilities	Percentage of Procurement from Businesses owned by People living with Disabilities	5% of the total procurement	0%
	Number of Disabled Employees	5% of the workforce	2 People (0.28% of the workforce)
	Number of Disabled people trained in home construction & related fields	300 per annum	300 per annum
Military Veterans	Percentage of Procurement from Businesses owned by Military Veterans	10% of the total procurement	0%
	Number of Military Veterans Trained	180 per annum	180 per annum