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SANRAL is going the extra mile to provide economic opportunities to marginalised groups in South Africa – women, youth and people living with disabilities as well as military veterans.

SANRAL has unveiled economic opportunities running into millions for the vulnerable groups – all part of the agency’s agenda to transform the South African economy and the lives of communities where it builds infrastructure.

The roads agency is going around the country, holding information sessions to make these vulnerable groups aware of the opportunities available to them.

At a session held in Siyathuthuka, Emakhazeni Local Municipality, project manager Kwanele Simelane said it was vital for designated groups to become more involved in projects such as the Moloto Road upgrades.

The Moloto Road is a major arterial road used to transport goods and people between Mpumalanga and Gauteng. The upgrades are one of SANRAL’s flagship projects, and run into billions of rands.

Simelane said: “We’ve committed ourselves to supporting the development and participation of these businesses by making opportunities more accessible. Through implementation of our transformation policy, we’ve made significant progress in reducing the barriers to entry, so that everyone has a fair opportunity to participate in SANRAL projects.”

In the agency’s 2021/22 Integrated Report, Chair of the SANRAL Board Themba Mhambi said that SANRAL was impressed with its own pace of transformation of the construction sector.

He said that during the 2021/22 financial year, SANRAL provided 1,684 SMMEs with work on construction, rehabilitation and maintenance projects. The total amount earned by the SMMEs from these contracts was R2.3 billion.

Mhambi said black-owned SMMEs won 88.05% of the contracts awarded and 89.6% of the value of the work performed.

He added that of the 9,129 jobs created in the reporting period, 6,647 were for men and 2,482 for women. A breakdown based on age revealed that 3,096 young men and 1,339 young women were beneficiaries.

“From a disability perspective, 62 people with disabilities were employed. In terms of SANRAL’s contract participation goals, the aim for targeted enterprises is 30%, which includes women and youth-owned businesses at 5% each, the target for military veterans and people with disabilities being 0.5% for each of those groups.

“On the N3 project in the Eastern Region alone, this meant that R64,304,246.53 went towards youth-owned businesses, with the same amount going towards women-owned businesses. On the same project, women and youth each earned R30,866,038.33 of the total R103 million spent on local labour.”

In Emakhazeni, Vuyani Mpongo, site agent for the main contractor on the Moloto Road upgrades, Rainbow Civils, outlined opportunities for vulnerable groups in the area on RRM projects valued at nearly R3 million scheduled to take place over 22 months. Half of the project value has been earmarked for local SMMEs with a Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) grading of between 1 and 3.

Women who attended the Emakhazeni session responded positively to the opportunities offered by SANRAL. Among them was Gloria Mahaule of Lugcabho Projects, who called for more information, assistance, and support for female SMME owners.

“As women, we’re quite capable of running successful businesses within the construction and related sectors, but we still need support because many female business owners end up deserting their companies due to a lack of opportunity and guidance,” she said.

Kgothatso Mnisi, director of Amakhosikazi Legacy Company, said she was looking forward to participating in SANRAL’s upcoming opportunities so she could grow her business and provide for her family.

“Everything with SANRAL has been very transparent so far. I now know which documents to prepare so I can place my bid and hopefully get to participate in building a better community,” she said.

Precious Motshwege, of Tshibogo Trading, who has previously participated in an RRM project with SANRAL, said she was willing to help other business owners prepare for opportunities through their recently launched Women in Business forum.

“About four years ago, I had the opportunity to participate by providing road marking services for SANRAL. I gained a lot of experience that I’d love to share with other women. I’m grateful for the support SANRAL has given us, but we also need to support each other so we can all benefit,” she said.

Member of Emakhazeni Mayoral Council, Jackie Mabila, also urged business owners to work together to ensure that poverty and unemployment are alleviated through the development of local businesses.

“SANRAL has simplified how local businesses can benefit through projects and support programmes. It’s something that we really need here in Emakhazeni, and I’d encourage business owners to avail themselves of such initiatives,” he said.

See https://sanralesdd.co.za/ for second-tier tender opportunities and more supplier development information.

Final touches are being added to the newly upgraded Thembalethu Bridge over the N2 in George. SANRAL, in collaboration with George Municipality, has been working for almost two years to widen the old bridge to create two lanes in each direction, with cycle paths and pedestrian walkways on both sides of the bridge

Former Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga visited the project in April, and said:

“The Thembalethu Bridge is a prime example of the work we are doing to improve road infrastructure on our national road network which is positively impacting communities. In this case it impacts a community in George which, because of apartheid spatial planning, had great difficulty in accessing the main town on the other side of the N2.

“SANRAL is also busy with a number of other projects on the Garden Route which are equally important for tourism. Our national roads are important in connecting communities, towns, cities, provinces and countries. Tourists do not want to visit places where they struggle to travel from one destination to another. Good roads lead to good local economies, which translates into jobs and a better life for all.”

Minister Chikunga said that by addressing traffic congestion and prioritising pedestrian safety, especially for school children, the Thembalethu Bridge project demonstrated SANRAL’s focus on improving infrastructure for the benefit of local communities.

“The work on Thembalethu Bridge is nothing short of engineering excellence. The SANRAL engineers explained to me that a new bridge was built alongside the old bridge, and that the existing bridge is now being lifted to accommodate trucks with a load at a maximum height of 5.2 metres. If you are not an engineer, you can never imagine this happening, but our South African engineers are able to do it, and we are extremely proud of that.”

Project Manager Petronella Theron explained that pedestrians were a priority on this project, as many Thembalethu residents commute on foot. “We have prioritised road safety education, working with Mzoxolo Primary School and the community to ensure pedestrians use the pedestrian walkways in order to navigate their journeys safely,” she said.

The bridge also addresses the challenge of significantly increased vehicular traffic in and out of Thembalethu.

“SANRAL is a state-owned entity, it’s our implementing agency when it comes to national roads in South Africa, and this is but one example of what it is capable of. The Department of Transport, through SANRAL, has demonstrated its commitment to the Western Cape and its economic growth, and aims to commission projects addressing the escalating demands of the growing developments along the Garden Route,” Chikunga added.

Key statistics

• The project has to date generated 92 full-time equivalent jobs at a cost of R16 million
• R1 million was spent on training 144 local persons
• 22 local subcontractors participated in the project, to the tune of R31 million

 

Shaheil Khoosal presenting to aspirant engineers at the Nelson Mandela University STEM Career Day

SANRAL’s Technical Excellence Academy (TEA) was established a decade ago in 2014. Based at the SANRAL Southern Region offices in the Eastern Cape, over the years the TEA been instrumental in exposing candidate engineers to training and fast-tracking their registration with the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) as professional engineers.

Shaheil???? Khoosal, a mentor, coach and design engineer at the TEA, was a SANRAL bursary recipient for his undergraduate studies and has been with the roads agency for 12 years. “I was fortunate to occupy many roles in the different phases of the project cycle, similar to our current graduate engineers – that is, as site engineer, design engineer and project manager. I was always keen to be a part of the academy, so when the vacancy for a mentor, coach and design engineer was advertised, I jumped at the opportunity and applied,” Khoosal explains.

A Master of Science in Civil Engineering (2021) holder from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and a registered engineer (2018), Khoosal says his role requires him to guide and coach candidates through the requirements set out by ECSA.

“What I enjoy most is seeing the young engineers mature and grow in their respective roles. The learning is mutually beneficial – a lot of the time I find myself learning from our graduate engineers,” he says.

Khoosal says it is a highlight when the candidate engineers eventually apply to ECSA for professional registration. “A big highlight for me over the past year has also been to witness the academy move forward and the traction that the TEA has gained, be it the structured training programme offered to candidate engineers, or the productive discussions and collaborations with other organisations.

Going forward, Khoosal looks forward to contributing and adding value at the TEA by consistently striving for improvement and efficiency. “I would like to see the TEA be a key asset by providing a pool of skilled individuals and leaders to take the organisation forward, as well as being a technical in-house facility to assist regions in the project and planning environment,” he adds.

The TEA programme spans 5 years and is structured so that 11 ECSA outcomes can be achieved:

• Roughly 2 years are spent on a construction site, where candidates are deployed as part of the consulting engineer’s construction monitoring team.
• Around another 2 years are spent in a design office, either at the TEA or with part or all of this spent seconded to a consulting engineer’s office where applicable design work is available.
• A further 3 months is spent in a materials testing laboratory.
• The remaining time is allocated according to the candidate’s developmental needs to successfully complete the programme and register as a Professional Engineer or Professional Engineering Technologist.

 

To date, SANRAL’s TEA has provided training to 146 candidate engineers, while it currently has 65 candidate engineers and engineering technologists completing the 5-year programme. To date, the TEA has had 30 alumni register professionally with ECSA.

The Msikaba Bridge project in the Eastern Cape is progressing significantly, and now entering technically challenging phases. This bridge forms part of SANRAL’s N2 Wild Coast project. The last two years have been spent completing the four 21,000 ton anchor blocks and progressing with the  bridge pylons on each side of the Msikaba Gorge. What will follow is post-stressing of the anchor blocks, to ensure the transfer of load exerted by the stay cables is well distributed. The post-tensioning strand cables at each of the 17 anchor points in each block are stressed by a specialist company. The process is expected to take two to three weeks for each anchor point.

The next major step will be installing pylon inserts into the pylon’s structure as it rises above the 86-metre mark. Careful planning will allow the deck launching to start after the first five inserts are installed, which is likely to be in the second half of 2024.

 

Mentorship of new entrants and the professionalisation of practitioners will help people in the construction industry to excel and build roads and sustainable infrastructure that will transform the shape of the economy. The National African Federation for the Building Industry (NAFBI) has a mentorship programme in which 120 mentors are mentoring small, medium-sized and microenterprises (SMMEs) on construction sites in partnership with SANRAL, Rand Water and the South African Council for the Project and Construction Management Professions. On SANRAL sites alone, 44 mentors are coaching more than 400 SMMEs. Said SANRAL marketing and communications GM Vusi Mona: “We are trying to make a positive impact through our investments of billions of rands into the construction and maintenance of roads. Through this, we are creating thousands of jobs by developing roads and we are creating opportunities for SMMEs, with a focus on youth, women and people with disabilities,” he said. SANRAL takes deliberate steps to make itself and its role familiar to especially small, black-owned businesses and the communities in which it works. “We aspire to be connected to the people of South Africa because this asset is owned by the people of South Africa,” said Mona.

 

SANRAL has invested over R364 million for developing critical road infrastructure in Gert Sibande District Municipality in Mpumalanga. This includes about R191 million for restoration of the national road N17, section 5 from km 85.0 to Oshoek (km 122.7) near the Oshoek border post, and R173 million towards resurfacing a section near Chrissiesmeer. This is part of the roads agency’s plan to roll out new infrastructure projects worth R9 billion in Gert Sibande District Municipality. In line with SANRAL’s transformation objectives, 30% of the contract value is earmarked for subcontracting to smaller black contractors, in particular those owned by women, youth and persons with disabilities. About 30% (R56 million) has been allocated to targeted enterprises for the Oshoek section and 6% (R10.4 million) for local labour. For Chrissiesmeer around R53 million was allocated for SMMEs and R10 million for labour. With the unemployment rate currently at 32.9%, this investment will boost the local economy through the creation of jobs, and training and development of local small businesses.