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Is your builder .........a Master Builder?

East Cape Master Builders Association

The East Cape Master Builders and Allied Industries Association celebrates over 100 years of service to members and the building industry.

The MBA is a registered employers association which represents the interests of 700 employer members throughout the entire Southern and Eastern Cape, including the East London/Border area.

Membership is comprised of small & large, emerging & established contractor & specialist contractor members in all sectors of the building industry as well as associate members supplying materials, goods, plant and equipment or professional services.

The Association is affilliated to Master Builders South Africa (MBSA).

The Association currently operates on a wide scale with regular meetings at its three main branches namely, Port Elizabeth, East London and Southern Cape. Meetings are also held regularly in Grahamstown, Port Alfred, Queenstown, Jeffreys Bay and annually in most of the country towns within the Association's area of jurisdiction.

The Association currently employs 18 staff who operate from 4 offices in the Eastern and Southern Cape Regions of South Africa providing a wide range of services to members.

For more information regarding the Association you are invited to contact the branch nearest to you and we will be pleased to be of assistance.

Brief History of the MBA

The first inaugural meeting of master builders in Port Elizabeth was held on 8 January 1898 at 08:00 on a Saturday evening. The meeting was called by Mr Jass Williams by circular and advertisement to master builders and contractors "for the purpose of discussing the advisability of establishing a Master Builders' and Contractors' Association in this town" (Port Elizabeth). That first meeting was attended by some sixteen contractors and Mr L Mackay was unanimously elected to the chair. Mr Williams became the Association's first secretary. A number of meetings were held in that year which laid the foundations of the Association.

During 1982 the Association amalgamated with the Master Builders' Associations of East London, Southern Cape, Queenstown, King William's Town and Grahamstown to form the Master Builders' and Allied Trades Association, East Cape. The Association continued to operate under this name until May 1987 when, whilst maintaining its registration as the MBA, it began operating as the Building Industries Association, East Cape (BIA). On the eve of its Centenary and with the advent of the new Labour Relations Act the Association resolved to revert back to its former name with one slight variation namely, the East Cape Master Builders' and Allied Industries Association (East Cape MBA).

Life Members