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What's hot. What's moving. What you need to know.

There's a number doing the rounds this year that's worth paying attention to: R1 trillion.

That's the public-sector infrastructure commitment confirmed in February's 2026 Budget Speech — the largest infrastructure pledge in South Africa's recorded history.

The Finance Minister framed infrastructure investment as a central pillar of South Africa's economic growth, with spending spread across transport, energy, water, and social infrastructure.

The breakdown looks like this: transport gets the biggest slice at R417.6 billion, followed by energy at R213.6 billion, water at R185.2 billion, and health at R65.4 billion.

Now, is it going to happen?

That's the big question the whole industry is asking.

South Africa's budget speeches have consistently placed infrastructure at the centre of economic policy for over a decade, and the bigger challenge has always been delivery.

But the pipeline is real, the tenders are coming, and if you're positioned correctly, there's work to be had.

Read more on👉 RIB Software

But everybody feels.

Let's talk cash flow.

Because it turns out the biggest threat to contractors in South Africa right now isn't a bad market or too few projects.

It's getting paid.

Payment failures have now overtaken extension-of-time and variation claims as the single largest source of construction disputes in the country, according to recent findings from MDA Attorneys. 👉 SA Building Review

More disputes are now starting because of unpaid invoices than anything else.

At the Collective Wisdom 2026 industry forum, one construction CEO put it plainly:

"Cash flow is oxygen to contractors, but it's been strangled."

Public-sector clients are legally required to pay within 30 days under the Public Finance Management Act, but payment cycles of 60, 90, and even 120 days are routinely reported across municipalities, SOEs, and departments of public works.

Private developers sometimes do it on purpose as a working capital strategy.

The good news? In adjudications that reached a formal decision, contractors won most cases against employers. So the law is often on your side. You just have to use it.

That said, most of us know that in this country you have to ask:

“Is the juice worth the squeeze?”

Practical tip: document everything. Claims that arrive with photos, signed variation orders, and clear BoQ references get paid faster than ones that don't. Full stop.

Before you send your next progress claim, do a five-minute checklist:

✅ Photo evidence attached

✅ Variation orders signed and referenced

✅ BoQ line items clearly linked

✅ Client contact confirmed as the right person to approve

✅ Follow-up date diarised for 5 days after submission

It sounds simple.

It is simple.

But most payment delays start with a documentation gap and the contractor who submits a clean, audit-ready claim gets paid before the one who doesn't.

Load shedding is gone. For now. Here's what that means for you.

If you've noticed the lights staying on, you're not imagining it.

By March 2026, South Africa had achieved over 300 consecutive days without load shedding — a genuine milestone, yet a sad thing to say in a sentence when it comes to basics.

For anyone running a construction site, a workshop, or a trade business, that's a big deal. The diesel bills are lower, the schedules are less disrupted, and clients are less stressed.

But don't pack up the generator just yet. Energy experts have warned that the risk of power cuts returning by the end of the decade remains high unless urgent new capacity is added. Eskom's own forecasts point to potential load shedding returning as early as 2029. 👉 BusinessTech

What does this mean practically? Mid-to-high-end residential developers are now building solar and battery backup in as standard, and industry estimates put the added cost at between 8% and 15% of a new build. That's not a nice-to-have anymore. It's what the market expects.

Electricians and solar installers: the conversation has shifted from emergency backup to long-term economics.

That's a good conversation to be having with clients right now….

That’s about that for our first edition.

Thanks for being here from day one.

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