IN-DEPTH:
NEELS BLOM: Shaky walls a threat to SA’s entire edifice
Poorly maintained and deteriorating infrastructure could be a powder keg in an already perilous climate
State-owned infrastructure, perhaps better described as public capital, is the framework for everything South Africans do collectively. It belongs to citizens. They paid for it. They need it. It is a means of production. It is the material manifestation of the social compact. The goods, services and systems are the roof, walls and foundation of SA’s house. It is for these reasons that the South African Institute of Civil Engineers 2017 report card for SA is so worrying. The institute awarded the country’s public infrastructure an overall D+ on a scale of A to E in which A is world-class and E means unfit for purpose.The institute’s greatest concern is a lack of maintenance of public assets, which it says is due to inconsistent and deficient political leadership and a lack of planning capability and technical capacity. Over the past 20 years, the government has spent more than R2.5-trillion on infrastructure — an average of 6% of GDP. SA’s economic slowdown, however, called for fisca...
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