Polarisation Leads to
Serious Problems in SA
Construction Industry
W
hy are so many construction
contracts in SA over budget,
late and being carried out at the
expense of good relationships between
the parties? I believe that polarisation in
the construction industry is at the root of
the problem.
At MDA Consulting we deal with con-
struction contracts every day. There are
a number of factors which contribute to
polarisation, not least of which is the failure
of the contracting industry to transform.
In addition, collusion on the FIFA 2010
Soccer World Cup stadiums exacerbated
the combative atmosphere. Increasingly, we
are seeing more community interference
in the operations of contractors as well
as extreme threats of violence towards
contractors by certain business forums in
the Durban area. The reality is that we are
in a catch-22 situation.
22
Risk and the Contractual Environment
Construction contract agreements
help to manage risk. However, trust is
non-existent between the various role
players in the construction sector, which
has had devastating consequences for
our industry.
One of the main causes of dispute
bet w