Many may ask what the MBA has been doing for the last 5 weeks and under the circumstances that would be a very good question. So let me give a little insight into the lives of your MBA staff under COVID-19.
I think it all began fairly innocently for most of us but then the potential of a lockdown like we were seeing in other parts of the world started looming and we took a decision fairly early to place our staff on a work-from-home basis. This turned out to be a very good decision as once the nationwide lockdown hit we were already well placed to continue to support and assist you on a daily basis.
We continued to provide support to our members and have kept you updated and informed via Emails as well as via our Website, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and WhatsApp. Please keep in touch with us through any of these platforms.
At the same time we joined forces with the other Master Builders Associations around the country and, via Master Builder South Africa and the Construction COVID-19 Rapid Response Task Team (CC19RRTT), made detailed submissions to government regarding the Risk Adjusted Strategy. This finally resulted in all public works construction projects being included in level four of the strategy.
We continue to motivate strongly to ensure that the balance of active construction/building sites be included under Level 3 or higher and we are also engaging with the provincial and local governments in our region to accelerate the movement to lower risk levels in some of our areas.
Certain new risks emerge as we return to work. New regulations are being issued on Health & Safety, Employment and Labour, etc. and we will be alerting members to these in due course as well. The MBA is now also permitted to start providing more tangible support to members who are returning to work whilst itself adhering to strict new conditions.
In short, we continue to look after our member’s interests especially in these challenging times and I encourage you to contact any of us listed below should you require our assistance. We are pulling out all the stops to get our industry back to work, safely and responsibly and as soon as possible.
In closing, I would like to express my sincere thanks to the overwhelming number of members who have supported the association by paying their annual subscriptions to date. We realise that these are incredibly tough and uncertain times which makes your support all the more encouraging. Those who have not been able to pay their subs as yet are encouraged to do so. Your membership is important to us! Let's see how we can assist you.
Regards & stay safe
Greg
