Partnering to enable growth

Partnerships are vital to achieving progress and take the continent to new heights by building on the past to create our own future dynamic and vibrant African cities, says Cesa president Lynne Pretorius.

Delivering her welcoming address at the awards, Pretorius said the event celebrates the excellence of Cesa members and their innovative projects that will be part of creating progressive and spirited African cities.

“Since February I have travelled across SA to most of our regions to meet with our members and their clients to strengthen these partnerships and to discuss how we can work together to achieve constructive, sustainable transformation of the industry. We are making steady progress in this regard. In our most recent Biannual Economic and Capacity Survey of the industry it is heartening to see that the appointment of black executive staff has steadily increased, showing real progress in terms of transformation.

“We have now included thorough detailing of staffing demographics in annual declarations of member firms submitted to Cesa to track progress on this transformation agenda.

“We will be able to measure and monitor transformation at a detailed level over time as opposed to being reliant on BBBEE scorecards, which are not always a true reflection of the changing demographic profile of our industry.”

Pretorius said it is important Cesa continues to support and partner with government to enable improved and sustainable service delivery.