From the Editor's desk

…and the countdown begins

In many ways, the countdown has begun. Most of the industry’s commercial property firms shut their doors in alignment with what is traditionally the construction industry’s festive season break. The countdown to 2019 and the countdown to the county’s general election in May remind me of words in a passage I read recently: “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom”. I will certainly be working on that in the new year…

As we head towards our individual shut-downs, it is good to find time to reflect on what has gone through the pages of Property Review this year. This time last year we had just completed our fully integrated online edition of the magazine, moving away from the standard upload to Issuu.com: we hosted Property Review on its own server, and we were discovering how to code the magazine so that we’d have better control over the “rich media” and interactivity we could offer you. Twelve months on, we have streamlined the back end, and our reader experience is far slicker than before.

We have had a tremendous response to the fully integrated online edition: our stats show we are definitely on trend. Going into 2019, we are looking to be an even more effective platform for you, as the commercial property industry, to get your stories, opinions and concerns “cyber-aired”. To help us achieve this, we included an easy-to-participate-in reader survey in this issue. I look forward to receiving your feedback – it’s coming straight to my inbox!

On 3 January 2018, the cost of fuel was R14,20 per litre. Eleven months later, on 7 November, it stood at R16,85. On 18 January this year, we needed to find R12,14 to buy a greenback; at the time of preparation for this edition, we needed R13,89.

According to Absa’s “South Africa Quarterly Perspectives” research released in October, the bank had lowered its GDP growth forecast to 0,5% and 1,4% for the remainder of 2018 and 2019 respectively, attributing the revision to “ongoing constraints on the consumer and persistently low business confidence”.

SAPOA President Ipeleng Mkhari and CEO Neil Gopal have both been deeply concerned about the dysfunctional state

that many of South Africa’s municipalities find themselves in. Gopal’s message highlights some of the concerns, and Mkhari’s mid-term message, while quite reflective, reinforces the SAPOA CEO’s sentiments. “Municipalities are charging higher rates and taxes,” she says. “The escalation of higher taxation and its correlation to service delivery, skills and governance are real issues, and are critically important to having municipalities working properly.”

Fittingly, this month we bring you the second instalment extracted from the World Bank’s “Doing Business in South Africa Report”, which looks at the ins and outs of dealing with construction permits. In relation to this, we also offer you an opinion piece on the effects of delays in approval of Land Use and Building Plan applications by the Chair of the South African Institute of Architects’ Practice Committee, Simmy Peerutin.

The Johannesburg CBD is going to be a “must follow” for rejuvenation projects over the next 18 months or so, according to Tebogo Mogashoa – the “entrepreneur extraordinaire” tells us about his dream of rejuvenating inner cities one building at a time.

We were given first-time access to the international award-winning Market Theatre Foundation (MTF) building, and our “On Show” feature offers up some spectacular photography courtesy of

former MTF student Mpho Mokgadi. This particular feature also allowed us to engage one-on-one with MTF Chief Executive Officer Ismail Mahomed and the Foundation’s Chief Financial Officer Christine Mcdonald – as well as with KMH Architects’ Wayne Mansfield and Michael Cornwall, and ADA Consulting Engineers’ Paul Maitre.

Spanning the last quarter of 2018 and the first quarter of 2019, this edition of Property Review falls into our quarterly Developer Focus. To this end, we take a look into what’s been happening in Cape Town and speak to Deon van Zyl, Chairman of the Western Cape Property Development Forum to get his opinion on the recent events that created a hiatus in terms of opportunities in the Western Cape; and Rob Kane, Chairman of the Cape Town Central City Improvement District, who is more upbeat about the Mother City’s CBD.

In the spirit of giving, at this time of year we like to highlight various firms’ corporate social initiatives. This year we have chosen to feature a report back on Redefine’s Mentorship Challenge, the first season of which was hosted by Marc Wainer on CNBC Africa; the Amdec Group’s Cyclethon in aid of the Smile Foundation, which attracted more than 1 400 cyclists and raised funds for lifealtering surgery for children; as well as Tongaat Hulett’s iThuba programme of enterprise development initiatives.

I look forward to bringing you many more interesting and topical editions of Property Review in the New Year and further developing the magazine as “The voice for the industry”. On behalf of the editorial team, I wish you all an awesome and restful break, and a prosperous 2019.

Enjoy the read. Mark Pettipher, Editor and Publisher