Why South Africa is falling behind in innovative building technology compared to Africa and the world

South Africa lags behind its counterparts in Africa and the world with regard to Innovative Building Technology (IBTs). 

It is important that the country moves with speed in the finalisation of its IBTs policy framework, says Thembi Simelane, the Minister for the Department of Human Settlements (DHS).

He adds, “...and I would like to invite the members of the (Human Settlement) Portfolio Committee to make inputs towards the policy.”

The minister was giving a political overview as the Department of Human Settlements and its entities gave reports on their 2024/2025 annual reports to the Portfolio Committee of Human Settlements on Wednesday.

Simelane also informed the Portfolio Committee that the Innovative Building Technology (IBTs) summit, which was planned to take place next month, has been moved to next year March 2026, which will serve as a new approach towards addressing the systematic housing backlog and mitigating disasters.

IBT project consideration

In a bid document issued by the Free State Department of Human Settlements (FSHS) at the beginning of this month, the provincial department says it intends to utilise the services of relevant qualified and experienced database of contractors, manufacturers and developers for the roll-out of innovative building technology to speed up the service delivery of the Breaking New Ground (BNG) houses in the Free State. 

The FSHS says it is considering the use of innovative building technology as an efficient and effective alternative, with a variety of benefits, inclusive of the following: improved rate of construction, reduced labour costs, improved energy efficiency with a higher R-value of walls and low maintenance. 

FSHS says the purpose of this tender is for the service provider to design, manage and construct homes using innovative/alternative building technology that provide relevant benefits as compared to standard brick and mortar.

It says these benefits must be validated to justify the use of the system for a specific project. The FSHS adds that it will use IBT/ABT as a method of solving typical issues encountered with government-subsidised homes.

It will be used to improve some or all of the following factors, like economics (market value, upfront costs, life cycle costing); construction (rate of construction, ease of construction and lower maintenance); environmental (energy efficiency, embodied energy and less waste); and social (social acceptability).

In June, the Department hosted a  Virtual Research Forum on Advancing Innovative Building Technologies, where the Human Settlements Research Forum encourages the use of innovative building technology (IBT) to fast-track housing delivery.

This was because the country has witnessed an increase in the number of natural disasters in recent years, which has led to the rise in demand for housing and research has shown that the use of Innovative Building Technology Systems can address the challenges brought by inadequate infrastructure, poor quality workmanship and poorly planned township establishment, including poor traditional building methods.

DHS and entity 2024/2025 performance

Also on Wednesday, Simelane told the portfolio committee that there is a notable overall improvement of the Human Settlements’ sector from all three (3) areas, i.e. financial statements, compliance and performance audit in line with the concerted efforts we have been making to turn things around.

She says there has been a key milestone achievement by the Social Housing Regulatory Authority (SHRA) and the Housing Development Agency (HDA) on achieving clean audits.

She added that there has been a notable improvement from the Community Schemes Ombud Service (CSOS) is welcomed, moving from a qualified to an unqualified audit opinion while also reaching over 80% of their set targets.

The National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC) and the Department of Human Settlements retained unqualified audit outcomes, and it is vividly clear that the Department is not far from getting a clean audit.

Simelane says there is a need to support the Community Schemes Ombud Service(CSOS) and Property Practitioners Regulatory Authority(PPRA) about financial sustainability, as they do not get funding from the fiscus.

She says the department will also put measures in place to support PPRA to improve its financial statements and reporting so that its audit opinion is improved.

The minister commits that the department will work closely with all entities to ensure there is coordinated support to achieve their APP targets.

She says the department will equally support provinces and metropolitan municipalities to spend their grants and achieve the approved business plans.

“Lots of focus will go towards consequence management so that instances of non-compliance, such as irregular expenditures, are dealt with,” Simelane says. 

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