08 April 2011

Executive director to leave GMBA

Gauteng Master Builders Association has announced that executive director, Colin de Kock, will be leaving the GMBA at the end of June this year.

De Kock, 61, who has been executive director of the association since 1996, is leaving to pursue other interests.

During his period in office he has played a major role in spearheading several important initiatives, particularly in boosting education and training in the building sector.

For example, de Kock set up and directed the MBA Resource Centre (MBARC) which provided education and training in management to emerging building contractors. He established new GMBA training for owners and staff of SMME and QSE enterprises, which started this year, and he set up and directed Building Industries Learner Training (BILT), a GMBA scheme to promote and facilitate training of learners in the absence of CETA (Construction Education and Training Authority) assistance. He also established GMBA training for Health, Safety and Environment site personnel. The second intake of students, in 2010, qualified this year with the SAQA-registered National Certificate: Construction Health and Safety Level 3.

De Kock led GMBA participation in the Construction Week initiative and its Youth in Construction programme which now annually attracts school leavers to the building industry.

On another front he last year represented a number of GMBA members in successfully negotiating a three-year agreement with trade unions, through the voluntary Bargaining Forum, to avoid the possibility of industrial action over this period.

On behalf of GMBA and Master Builders South Africa (MBSA), de Kock serves on a number of building industry bodies, including committees and boards linked to the NHBRC, the University of Pretoria’s Building Department, the MBSA, Business Unity South Africa, and the National Skills Authority.