South Africa To Sharpen Focus On Execution Discipline In Projects

Project preparation is now the critical bottleneck for infrastructure delivery in South Africa, Mameetse Masemola, head of Infrastructure South Africa (ISA), told the 2026 edition of the Big 5 Construct South Africa exhibition in early June.

ISA is a unit within the Ministry of Public Works & Infrastructure established as the single point of entry for accelerated infrastructure investment in the country. It oversees the preparation and development of a market-ready infrastructure project pipeline in support of the country’s National Infrastructure Plan 2050.

South Africa is shifting from state-led infrastructure delivery to a disciplined, investment-led model built on project preparation, institutional coordination and private sector mobilisation, Masemola told the exhibition, organised by Dubai-headquartered dmg events and held from 9-11 June in Johannesburg.

However, execution discipline matters more than announcements, she said in a keynote address titled ‘Driving South Africa’s Infrastructure Delivery’ at the South Africa Infrastructure Summit, which ran on the sidelines of the exhibition. She noted that infrastructure success relies on institutional capacity, governance and delivery capability.

Private sector participation is now central to project delivery, Masemola emphasised, with a shift toward blended finance, public-private partnerships (PPP) and stronger investor alignment.

Municipal capacity is a major constraint, the head revealed, with an estimated underspending of Rand 50 billion (US$3.1 billion) driven by weak technical capability, poor project preparation and stalled procurement.

Masemola called for infrastructure to be treated as a coordinated system and a move from focusing on isolated projects to the country’s Strategic Integrated Projects (SIPs), which are aligned to national growth.

The head also noted the increasing influence of data in project preparation. Data-driven prioritisation is emerging, she said, with new models, such as those for rural roads, ranking schemes based on economic impact and logistics efficiency.

Meanwhile, Dr Ndoyisile Theys, acting chief operating officer of the South African Council for the Project and Construction Management Professions (SACPCMP), said infrastructure failures in South Africa are governance-driven and not funding-driven, with projects failing due to weak risk management, oversight and stakeholder engagement.

In its 14th edition, Big 5 Construct South Africa convened leading voices from across the country’s construction value chain to address the challenges and decisions affecting the built environment. More than 12,000 industry professionals attended the event, along with upwards of 400 exhibiting companies from over 25 countries, representing manufacturers, distributors, service providers, contractors, engineers, consultants, developers and architects. In addition, there were country pavilions from China, Italy, Malaysia, Pakistan and the UAE headlining an international line-up, with major exhibiting nations including Canada, Germany, India, Saudi Arabia and the UK.

The overarching message from the majority of the speakers was that South Africa’s infrastructure delivery challenges are less about funding or technical complexity and more about governance, integration, capability and execution discipline.

There is seen to be a fundamental shift underway across the country and the wider African infrastructure ecosystem from fragmented, project-by-project approaches toward integrated, system-driven delivery models spanning transport corridors, logistics networks, water systems and ports. Success, it now seems, increasingly depends on how well institutions, stakeholders and infrastructure assets are coordinated, rather than the scale of investment alone.

A recurring theme across the discussions was the need to move from reactive and compliance-driven practices to proactive, data-driven and continuously managed systems. This includes strengthening project preparation, embedding real-time visibility, improving procurement strategy and ensuring lifecycle planning from the outset. At the same time, private sector participation, blended finance and PPPs are becoming central to unlocking delivery at scale, particularly in logistics and port infrastructure.

Critically, the sessions underscored that behaviour and capability are now the defining constraints in the infrastructure sector. Weak governance, poor collaboration, skills erosion and misaligned incentives are undermining delivery outcomes, while the mismatch between ambitious infrastructure pipelines and available industry capacity risks further delays.

Overall, the sector is entering a new phase where integration (across modes, corridors and institutions), digitalisation (through data visibility and platforms), and execution discipline (through governance and capability building) will determine success. Organisations that adapt to this shift by prioritising coordination, investing in data and skills, and aligning stakeholders will be best positioned to deliver infrastructure more efficiently, reliably and at scale.

Top photo: Big 5 Construct South Africa 2026 exhibition (Source: LinkedIn @ dmg Events)