The public works department plans to introduce digital infrastructure tracking next year to restore accountability and curb delays in construction projects.
This forms part of the South African construction action plan announced by public works & infrastructure minister Dean Macpherson on Wednesday.
The plan aims to turn the department – nationally and in the provinces – into economic delivery units. Public works is consumed by service delivery challenges for myriad reasons, including corruption, poor property management, capacity constraints and supply chain mismanagement.
The construction mafia, which refers to criminal syndicates in South Africa that use extortion, violence and intimidation to disrupt construction projects, has also severely impacted the delivery of projects.
The plan introduces six key actions, including the blacklisting of defaulting contractors, ring-fencing of project budgets, establishing procurement war rooms, real-time audit collaboration with the auditor-general and the professionalisation of built-environment practitioners within the public sector.
Digital tracking is the third leg of the plan.
Macpherson told reporters in Cape Town that it’s about visibility, knowing what is happening, where and when.
“We cannot fix what we cannot see. Too often, different provinces have different systems, producing inconsistent and incomplete data. Without accurate information, decision-making becomes slow and accountability becomes impossible,” he said.
Information management system
To change this, every public works department will implement a digitised, integrated asset information management system based on modern enterprise resource planning technology, by March 2026.
“This will enable real-time tracking of every construction project in South Africa: the contractor, the timeline, the budget and the physical progress,” Macpherson said.
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“For the first time, we will have a unified, live dashboard that shows where projects stand, what risks they face and what interventions are required.”
The reform will integrate financial, procurement and asset data, bringing transparency to how the department plans, builds and maintains infrastructure.
He said digitisation is how the department will move from “reports written after failure” to “action taken before failure”.
It will also allow government to publish quarterly data so that the public can see first-hand the progress that is being made, he said. – © 2025 NewsCentral Media
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