Sustainability of lower-grade construction based SMME's in the Free State Province

In the year 2010, the South African government, through its soccer body namely South African Football Association, hosted the first Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) soccer world cup in the African continent and invested heavily in infrastructures such as roads, rail networks, and sports facilities. This was seen as an opportunity to help eradicate poverty, reduce unemployment, and achieve high economic growth. However, the construction industry, despite its performance in global economic growth and job creation to skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled workforce, is still faced with the central quandary of a high failure rate in the early stages of operation due to contributing factors such as low barriers to entry, deficiency of skills, formal qualifications, relevant industry experience, and management and leadership skills. Moreover, the government has several initiatives, such as institutions providing financial assistance to Small Micro Medium Enterprises (SMMEs), but these have not resulted in a tangible improvement in upgrading to upper grades that address the congestion in the construction industry. Therefore, these challenges impede the growth, development, and sustainability of construction SMMEs, which mostly remain congested in the lower-grades. Thus, this research aimed to develop recommendations that will assist lower-grade construction-based SMMEs in the Free State province to become sustainable in their business. Following the literature study, the study adopted the quantitative research approach, and a self-administered questionnaire was designed based on information emanating from an extant literature review. District-based enumerators were appointed and inducted in all Free State province district municipalities to assist with the distribution and collection of questionnaires to construction SMMEs in possession of Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) grading one to four in both Civil Engineering and General Building