SA Affordable Housing January - February 2020 // ISSUE: 80 | Page 6

NEWS
Government dragging
heels over lead
poisoning, SAPMA claims
I
n ten years, the government has not prosecuted a single
company for producing paint with hazardous lead levels,
Deryck Spence, executive director of the SA Paint
Manufacturing Association (SAPMA), has stated.
Spence’s observation came during the last International
Lead Poisoning Prevention Week, an awareness week
introduced by the World Health Organisation to try to reduce
the number of fatalities from lead poisoning. The WHO has
estimated that 143 000 people died from this last year with
leaded paints a major contributor.
Government does not seem to share SAPMA’s concern for
prompt action. “SAPMA has been trying since the
promulgation of the Hazardous Substances Act pertaining to
lead in paint back in 2009, to have the Act amended from the
present 600ppm lead in paint to the WHO-UN’s Global
Alliance and IPPIC (now the World Coatings Council)
internationally-accepted levels of 90ppm.
“With this objective in mind, the SA Department of Health
formed a technical working committee in April 2018 with
members drawn from the DoH, the Department of
Environmental Affairs, Department of Trade & Industry and
the SA coatings industry represented by SAPMA and the
Chemical and Allied Industries Association.
Deryck Spence, executive director of the SA
Paint Manufacturing Association (SAPMA).
“These draconian requirements – during a severe financial
downturn – follow a history of absolutely no prosecution by
the DoH for companies still using lead-based pigments
since promulgation of the Hazardous Substances Act in
2009. To aggravate the situation for SAPMA members who
are operating on a reduced lead content /reduced profit
basis, there is still a continuous flow of imported, cheap
paint products from China and other Asian countries
landing on our shores – all with questionable levels of
lead,” Spence states.
He says, despite all these delays and setbacks, SAPMA is
continuing its anti-lead quest and is determined to see the
reduction of the lead levels of all paints produced in South
Africa to less than 90ppm as soon as possible.
Consistent lack of QSs in government
L
ate last year, the Auditor General reported that
unauthorised expenditure in South Africa had increased
by 38% to R2.1-billion, with the Department of Public
Works (DPW) and Infrastructure being one of the departments
that received the poorest audit results. While the department
is mandated to be the custodian and portfolio manager of the
national government’s immovable assets, there are virtually
no quantity surveyors within many government departments.
Zandile Makhathini, Chairperson of the Built Environment
Matters Committee on the Council for the Built Environment
(CBE), has worked in various roles within government
departments for the past twenty years. In 2012, she became
the head of an infrastructure programme at the DPW and in
2015 she was able to appoint a quantity surveyor (QS) for the
first time.
“Before 2015, there weren’t formally appointed QSs at the
DPW. After requesting a special dispensation from HR to
appoint a QS for my projects, I was able to appoint one at an
uncompetitive salary. The lack of competitive salaries for QSs is
one of the biggest reasons for the lack of professional expertise
within the Department. There is currently only one QS and three
candidate QSs who manage the projects that make up the
R12-billion budget of the Department,” says Makhathini.
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JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2020
SAAffordHousing
QSs are the built environment professionals equipped and
trained to manage the complete contractual and financial
aspects of construction projects. They provide key oversight
and management that helps to ensure that a construction
project is completed within its projected budget by pricing/
forecasting as well as measuring the value of the work done
on-site. Makhathini says that these skills are in short supply
within the DPW and that built environment professionals who
haven’t been trained in cost estimating manage the financials
of projects.
“Government departments are at a critical point where they
need to recognise that a QS’s skills are specialised and greatly
needed on our projects. Engineers and construction managers
do not have the same skills as professional QSs. As a
construction manager, I’m fully aware of my limitations, which
is why I’ve appointed a QS as part of my project team. Instead
of expecting engineers and construction managers to excel in
cost estimating and cost control, we need to entrust this
responsibility to people who have mastered these areas of
expertise. Government departments need to make roles for QS
available at competitive salaries so that they can control costs
and help us derive value from our building projects and
assets,” says Makhathini.
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