Press Release

Sabita is an industry organisation that promotes the development and application of bituminous materials. It is registered as an organisation not for gain and supports its members (consulting engineers, suppliers and contractors) through research, education, engagement with client bodies and promotion of sustainable practices.

Under scrutiny is a matter that was initiated around 2001 with the intent to bring about a transparent mechanism that would deal with the rise and fall of the bitumen component in asphalt costs.

As road building contracts could span lengthy periods, a mechanism was sought to minimise uncertainty of input costs, resulting largely from externalities such as crude costs and exchange rate fluctuations.

Due to various parties not being able to reach agreement, this however was never implemented as intended. The intent of this initiative was to bring about a transparent mechanism between contractors and client bodies that would deal with input cost fluctuations and never to flout competition law.

Saied Solomons, CEO

5/3/2010

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Sabita honours remarkable businesswoman for her success in Road Provision

Entrepreneur proves that labour-enhanced road surfacing is the way to go, to upgrade gravel roads in previously disadvantaged townships and create thousands of sustainable man-days of employment jobs.

Every town needs at least one Violet Mphafudi – if not several Violets – to keep providing much needed surfaced roads in townships.

The Tshwane-based businesswoman, who is managing director of Vioflo Services (Pty) Ltd, has been named as the worthy recipient of the 2007 Sabita Award for Outstanding Achievement in Asphalt Technology, conferred by the Southern African Bitumen Association (Sabita) for her sterling employment of labour-enhanced methods to upgrade approximately 40 kilometres of gravel roads to a surfaced standard in the Hammanskraal and surrounding townships of the metro over the past nine months.

She received the award at the annual Sabita cocktail function in Newlands, Cape Town, which was addressed by Dr Ingrid Verwey, specialist in contractor development at the Development Bank of Southern Africa and founder of the South African Women in Construction Association (Sawic).

Says Verwey: “Great strides have already been made in the empowerment of women in the construction sector in the past decade – but as in so many other spheres, a lot more work remains to be done in this regard. A woman such as Violet Mphafudi is a role model to others seeking to enter the construction industry, and her efforts and success are to be applauded.”

Mphafudi (44), a mother of three, commenced a three-year tender to rehabilitate and maintain roads in the Hammanskraal and Mabopane areas in May last year. By using hand-operated machinery and a surfacing methodology developed by the Johannesburg-based company Tarfix, she has been able to employ a large number of workers from these communities. So successful has she been already, that her original workforce of 42 people has doubled to over 80. Women make up 40% of her staff – a fact of which she is very proud.

What is also remarkable about Vioflo Services, is that it has become a completely independent contractor. Unlike other small contractors, who are dependent on larger contractors to perform specialist functions such as surfacing, Vioflo Services is able to carry out all construction work on its own, utilising its own plant and equipment. Without the vision of the City of Tshwane to specify the methodology developed by Tarfix as a separate and dedicated part of their tender programs, all this work would be done by more established and bigger contractors, and this would more than likely have denied Vioflo the opportunity of tendering and being successful at this work.

For Mphafudi, winning and fulfilling local government tenders is nothing new. In 1997 she won her first two-year contracts from the City of Tshwane, for household refuse removal and street-cleaning. Then she was turned on to the idea of tackling civil engineering projects by a friend, himself an engineer. “He told me about the opportunities for women in construction,” she says.

In 2002 she tendered successfully for a three-month water and sewer reticulation contract, which she completed in two months. She then went on to win contracts for further sewer and water reticulation, regravelling rural roads and maintaining road traffic markings, a tender she still holds, “and I’ve never looked back”.

Construction work, particularly rehabilitating and maintaining surfaced roads, has captured Mphafudi’s imagination. She quips: “This is my passion. Construction is with me until death do us part.”

But she has had to overcome challenges and explode stereotypes along the way. Male counterparts and staff have questioned her ability, as a woman, to perform the functions expected of her, as well as her decision to employ women as labourers – but she believes she is winning her detractors over.

Mphafudi also believes in leading by example, and is always on site – and is not afraid to get her hands dirty either: “I’m hands-on. I also push wheelbarrows on site. I don’t want my staff to think they’re just making money for me.”

Sabita CEO Trevor Distin says Mphafudi and her company are a shining example of how emerging contractors can make an enormous difference in the upgrading of gravel roads to a surfaced standard by optimising the employment of labour from local communities without compromising on the cost vis-à-vis conventional mechanical methods or the quality of the finished product. This makes her a fitting recipient of the 2007 Sabita Award for Outstanding Achievement in Asphalt Technology.

“Roads are without question the lifeblood of every economy; without them, no country can function successfully. We are faced with a great many challenges in South Africa, not least of which is the provision of surfaced roads in order to provide all-weather access and at the same time create employment opportunities for the communities which they serve. It is crucial that we come up with cost-effective, quality solutions to this problem. Tarfix have proven that this can be done, and the City of Tshwane, through it’s embracement of these methodologies, has created a leading example of how smaller contractors, such as Violet, can be truly developed to into reliable service providers. – and Violet presents just such a solution.

“We hope that by recognising Violet and her endeavours, we will inspire more entrepreneurs like her all over South Africa – and spur all levels of government into recognising the immense value that labour-enhanced methods can play in road provision, but also in creating and sustaining a great many jobs. Every town needs a Violet, if not several Violets.
“In Violet, we have a worthy recipient of the Sabita Award. We are delighted at her success and determination, and we wish her all of the very best in every challenge she tackles in future,” says Distin.