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8 October 2007

Programme Director
Executive Mayor of Madibeng, Councillor Sophie Molokoane
SACPVP President
Soyisile Mokweni
SACPVP Registrar
Council Members of the SACPVP
Representatives from the Council for the Built Environment
Representatives from the ABB, our sponsors for the conference
Delegates
Ladies and gentlemen

Warm greetings to all of you this evening. It is indeed a great pleasure and honour for me to address this important gathering which represents a festival of ideas. The South African Council for the Property Valuers Profession (SACPVP) is a statutory body established in terms of the Property Valuers Profession Act of 2000. The vision is to create a transformed Property Valuers Profession that delivers world-class valuation services.

It is a council that is central to South Africa's Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative (AsgiSA) and more specifically to the Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition (Jipsa). This as you are all aware is led by government, organized labour and business to identify the country's solutions to skills shortages in the critical areas of the economy in order to meet AsgiSA) goals.

Among others, the council's objectives are the registration of property valuers and protection of the public from harmful practices within the valuers' profession and striving to promote high standards of the competency of professionals and to promote access to the profession. The growth of the construction industry is driven by probably the largest public investment in the infrastructure our country has ever seen. Specifically, in order to create the infrastructure for growth, government is increasing capital budget at an unprecedented rate of ten to fifteen percent (15%) per annum.

This growth path is not possible without concerted efforts of ensuring the capability of the professions like yours that lead the industry in our country in the conception, implementation and long-term operation of our infrastructure. This challenge calls for your council to be innovative in regulating the development of our professionals. The SACPVP is also responsible for:

* registration of professional valuers
* maintenance of their integrity
* enhancement of their status
* improvement of their academic and other qualifications and of the standard of services rendered by them

But above all, protection of members of the public in their dealings with registered persons and drawing up and keeping up to date of a register of all registered persons. The regulation of the professionals refers to those mechanisms used to protect the public interest, identify and recognize the competency levels of members of the profession, to ensure acceptable educational standards and standards of practice in the profession, furthermore, to control the conduct of members of the profession.

Programme Director,

It is encouraging to learn that SACPVP is serious about protecting the public against registered persons who allegedly transgress its code of professional conduct. As the public becomes aware of its rights, Ladies and gentlemen, professionals are being reported to the council for not adhering to the said code. Although the exercise of bringing these transgressors to book is often said to be increasingly expensive, it is more important that the task of disciplining violators is carried out.

An appeal is hereby made, Programme Director that the professionals also become the eyes and ears of the council so as to root out any wrong doing by their fellow colleagues. The council in turn should ensure that justice is upheld and speedily so. This is one of the ways to protect the democracy of our country so that all enjoy the protection of the law. Currently there are 13 cases of improper conduct that are being investigated buy the council.

These range from persons practicing in categories they are not registers for to valuation reports that are not duly countersigned by mentors. SACPVP must ensure that access to this profession is encouraged. This requires the professional council a high level of proactive engagement to ensure that professional registration is valued and the candidates are supported to achieve their required competencies a different qualification levels.

Ladies and gentlemen and distinguished guests
,it is important that the work and responsibilities are identified and clearly demarcated for different categories of registration, there is still much to be done in this regard. I am happy to announce that the Construction Built Environment (CBE) is currently developing a framework within which the SACPVP should work to identify the different responsibilities within each category of registration. It is pleasing that we begun to make progress in addressing a number of issues relating to the skills pipeline.

Based on studies undertaken by the CBE, Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB), and Jipsa, a number of concrete interventions are in progress to address some of the constraints to development of built environment professions. We have recognised that these constraints stretch over the entire skills pipeline, including:

* suitable matriculation graduates
* the capacity of our tertiary institution
* the experiential training required to achieve competent professional practice and registration
* the role of continuous professional development to enhance the skills of the professionals.

Interventions to address these issues involve government, the professions, industry and institutions of higher learning. Increasing cooperation is evident. SACPVP has an important role to play in fostering these interventions and promoting greater cooperation to achieve more rapid impact across the country. With regard to the capacity of tertiary institutions, we are informed that the council has done accreditation visits to such institutions in order to ensure supply of quality education.

The council has recently concluded accreditation visits to seven tertiary institutions that offer property valuation qualification. The qualifications range from National Diplomas to Bachelor of Degrees and Masters Degrees.

Programme Director,

South Africa's Built Environment professionals are internally recognised and globally sought after. We must however, ask ourselves whether we are doing enough in terms of education and professional registration to instil in our professions ethos of nation pride and services to a developmental state. At the same time professional councils must also ensure a concerted focus to achieve more rapid transformation in terms of the demographics. SACPVP is still lacking behind with regards to registration of professional black valuers.

Out of about 1 300 valuers only 42 are Africans, 30 are Indians and 27 are coloured. In other words about 1 200 registered valuers are all white. Your council has a challenge to speed up and address the registration of the previously disadvantaged race groups. The challenge is the number of women we will see at tomorrow's breakfast, which is dedicated to women in the profession. You do not have to take off your shoes to count the total number of African women professional valuers in the whole of South Africa.
They account for only ten percent of their white counterparts. This is a burning platform for the profession.

Professional regulation is about governance of the professions and a commitment to the highest standards of ethic. It is therefore important that the institutions that regulate professional exemplify these standards of governance. I have no doubt that this conference will reflect on these and other issues. Government recognises the professional councils as a national asset in the development tasks ahead.

May the best ideas emerge from this festival of ideas which will help form a foundation that would assist us as government to achieve our mandate.

I thank you

Issued by: Department of Public Works, North West Provincial Government
8 October 2007
Source: North West Provincial Government (http://www.nwpg.gov.za)