To bridge the R1.07 trillion infrastructure gap, South Africa must move beyond merely acknowledging the issue and focus on resolving the initial obstacles.
The average major infrastructure project in South Africa is currently facing a 41-month delay.
That is nearly three and a half years of administrative, regulatory and procurement friction before a single person sets foot on site, says Christoff Lombard, the managing director at Motla.
He says by the time a project is actually "ready to build", the original design is often outdated, the budget has been eroded by inflation, and the key personnel have moved on.
“In South Africa, the hardest part of a project isn't the engineering. It's the start. We talk a lot about 'execution', but the real friction in 2026 is Inertia."
