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Gauteng Housing showcases progress made by women in construction
13 August 2007
Harvest time has arrived for the Gauteng Department of Housing's investment in women contractors.
The MEC for Housing in Gauteng, Nomvula Mokonyane, has handed over 50 houses to beneficiaries in Doornkop, Soweto as part of the Women's Month celebrations.
The houses were built by three women contractors appointed by the Gauteng Department of Housing to construct houses as part of the Doornkop Thulani Housing project.
The contractors, Ndilekaluzuko cc, Kopano Creative Concepts and L&R Welding and Suppliers, are part of ten women-owned construction companies that were awarded contracts to the value of R200 million by the department last year to construct houses in Gauteng.
The companies have to date constructed more than fifty houses. This project will upon completion provide 927 houses. Mokonyane said the handover illustrates that the department's Women in Construction initiative, implemented a year ago, was beginning to bear fruit.
She said the significance of this handover would help to do away with the stereotype that only men can succeed in the construction industry. "What we see here today reinforces our conviction that if given a chance, women can be as capable as their male counterparts," said Mokonyane.
Mokonyane also said the department embarked on this process to level the playing field in the male dominated construction industry.
"When we announced the ten women contractors last year we not only wanted to address the imbalances in the construction industry, but also to empower women who have been marginalised in past," said Mokonyane.
The project, whose total cost is more R24 million, will be completed in February 2008.
For more information contact:
Mongezi Mnyani
Cell: 082 602 6169
Mandla Sidu
Cell: 083 602 6169
Issued by: Department of Housing, Gauteng Provincial Government
13 August 2007
Source: SAPA