Fellow CESA members, what a triumph for our Infrastructure Indaba 2026 on 18–19 March at the Durban International Convention Centre. Your strong turnout, backed by industry and key government figures like Acting Director-General Subesh Pillay from the Department of Electricity & Energy and uMngeni Mayor Chris Pappas, showed our collective resolve to tackle South Africa’s infrastructure bottlenecks head-on.  

I was particularly encouraged by the strong attendance throughout, including full participation in the final sessions. 

The vibrant debates and in-depth discussions across panels and keynotes generated valuable insights and actionable ideas that will propel our members and our country forward toward more inclusive, sustainable and resilient infrastructure.  This Indaba proved once again why our members lead the charge in collaboration and innovation. 

Mayor Pappas’s keynote highlighted that infrastructure was not just expenditure but a “foundation and catalyst” for growth, unlocking multiplier effects like jobs from road projects, better market access, public health gains from water upgrades, and interconnected economic and social assets. 

His emphasis on intentional, futureproofed planning, aligning projects with spatial visions, anticipating rural-urban migration and embedding resilience for climate and energy shifts, resonates deeply with our advocacy efforts. Pappas also stressed combating deterioration through engineer-led integrity, early community partnerships to foster ownership and curb vandalism, and bolder public-private collaborations to leverage private expertise amid capacity gaps in smaller municipalities. 

The success of this Indaba would not have been possible without the support of our partners, sponsors, exhibitors, speakers and delegates. 

A special thank you to our sponsors, whose generous support has helped drive meaningful dialogue and innovation in the engineering and infrastructure sectors.