The construction industry of South Africa will be expected to play a k
ey role in the socio-economic development of the country under the new
national political dispensation, The industry has an illustrious past
and a good regulatory and procedural infrastructure, But the tasks it
will face will be different from its past workload in terms of volume
, variety and location. This paper is based on discussions which took
place at the South African Construction Management Programme (CMP) in
June-July 1993, These discussions are supplemented with proceedings fr
om other CMPs, and updated and extended from a literature survey consi
dering mainly recent developments, Present strengths and weaknesses of
the construction industry of South Africa are discussed, and the natu
re of the projects it will be required to undertake examined, A strate
gic plan for preparing the industry to meet its future tasks is outlin
ed.