FITTING THOUGHT
1
Will we ever get away from
bribery and corruption?
Not another political headline, when we have been
bombarded by political campaigning for the months
up to the national elections, you might be thinking?
But perhaps it’s not as political as you think
when you consider that bribery and corruption
don’t only exist in politics. Ethical business in
almost every sector is compromised by its own
industry players on a regular basis. the world’s inhabitants, politics should never trump
the needs of the people and nor should the use,
or tolerance of sub-standard goods that are just
increasingly saturating the market, bypassing the
set measures in place to ensure a fair playing field.
I suppose on the back of recent circumstances in
South Africa, you take a closer look at the things
you are involved in, and then you start to realise
that the issues you find are like the proverbial
elephant in the room — everyone knows they are
there, but no one dares to look at them. This takes away from industry quality, creates a
question bubble around the ‘plumbing industry and
plumber’s reputation’ that we persistently hear
about, and also eliminates any chances of local
is lekker products having their opportunity in the
country to have any hope of getting off the ground.
Each industry contributes to the country as a whole
and the next time you want to complain about the
state of the economy, perhaps you need to take a
look at your own contributions.
I find it hard to understand the approach of
certain businesses where there are persistent
complaints about the ‘state of the industry’ or
‘poor trading conditions’, but should we not be
asking ourselves what we are doing to either
make or break what is happening?
The business challenges of the industry are there
because of what is accepted, and now considered
‘normal’. This, in its own way, is all about politics,
volumes and money. Take procurement as a quick
example. This is the most common place where
‘dodgy’ transactions take place — especially on
larger scale projects — be it turning a blind eye to
sub-standard products, kickbacks, irregularities in
tenders, or driving labour prices below cost to take
competitors out of play, with a full understanding of
the consequences being executing poor quality in
one or other form.
At the end of the day it creates an uncompetitive
environment, not to mention bringing the industry
as a whole under scrutiny.
Doing the right thing is not always easy and there
are, of course, always various factors that play
a part in every choice, but when it comes to the
responsibility the plumbing industry has towards
www.plumbingafrica.co.za
In this issue our project is the Clinix G.M. Pitje Day
Hospital and Pharmacy on page 38. Our feature
looks at the affordable housing sector that accounts
for roughly 75% of the construction industry
currently on page 44. We are close to the wrap-up
of our Rainwater Harvesting series on page 32. We
profile Deon Nel — IOPSA Annual Award winner
of plumber of the year — on page 50 and also
talk to Robert Schoeman, who was awarded the
IOPSA Annual Auditor of the year about how he is
experiencing the industry on page 62.
Your input is valuable to us so please get in touch
with any queries, suggestion, compliments or
complaints — we want to hear it all and we take
what you have to say seriously.
Enjoy your June issue of Plumbing Africa and as
always, Happy Plumbing!
Ben
June 2019 Volume 25 I Number 4