The motivation behind this monthly newsletter is to provide better and more frequent communication to CAASA members, and to solicit suggestions and responses to the contents. We need input from you to ensure that the content of this newsletter, our webinars and annual conference remain both topical and relevant.
At this time of year the industry becomes a hive of activity. Programme milestones that must be achieved, chasing up payment of progress certificates, paying subcontractors and suppliers, salaries, wages, year-end bonuses, ensuring the site is safe and equipment is under lock and key are only some of the activities, and all to be done by 15th December. A short 3 week break and the madness starts again.
While CAASA does not operate under the same sort of pressures it is useful to look back on what we accomplished in the last 12 months.
Our monthly webinars continue to be well supported, not only be members. We held nine webinars this year on topics ranging from how to prepare and evaluate claims, aspects of NEC 3 and 4, adjudication in other jurisdictions, award writing and enforcement. As has become practice we finished off the series with our case law update in November. Vaughan went through the Eskom v Framatome judgements in the Gauteng High Court, the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Western Cape High Court. Not only did these judgments continue to respect and uphold an adjudicator’s decision, but also provided clarity on the time frames stipulated in W1 and the powers of the adjudicator to instruct a party take any action within a stated time which he considers necessary.
If any CAASA member has a topic they would like to present or put forward for discussion please notify the secretary at the email address above.
Thanks to the efforts of one of our Exco members, Don Ruhukwa, we opened up a dialogue with the Botswana Chamber of Business with the view to adopting adjudication as the primary dispute resolving mechanism, particularly in construction. CAASA indicated its willingness to assist with training, the use of our adjudication rules and any other services or guidance the Chamber may require. The process is slow but we look forward to a positive outcome and a long term relationship in the not too distant future.
There is a lack of formal accredited adjudicator training in South Africa. Also, unlike the UK and other common law jurisdictions, mandatory adjudication is not legislated. In the UK, between May 2023 and April 2024, two thousand two hundred and sixty four (2 264) referrals to adjudication were received by the Adjudicator Nominating bodies. This excludes where the parties agree on an adjudicator amongst themselves. To provide some context in 2024 SAICE appointed 49 adjudicators on request by the parties. So not only is there a lack of training but a newly admitted adjudicator could wait months or years before receiving an appointment.
To partially address this CAASA set up a mentoring programme that ran from June to November of this year. The modules incorporated the 4 standard form contracts FIDIC, NEC, GCC and JBCC where applicable, and were presented and discussed on a monthly basis:
The claims process and declaring a dispute
Appointment of the adjudicator and management of the adjudication process
Hearings, expert reports and requests for additional information
Points in limine, issues of jurisdiction, interdicts and enforcement applications
Writing the award and dealing with issues of costs
Adjudicator’s ethics and standards including issues surrounding natural justice, bias, disclosures and confidentiality
From the feedback received we plan to run this programme with some adjustments in 2026. CAASA is in discussion with other industry bodies and/or universities to provide formal accredited adjudicator’s training.
We held our AGM in August. The Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary are elected for a 3 year period, which will expire at the 2026 AGM. In addition there are other members of Exco who are elected for 1 year only. It is important that we have new members on the Executive Committee to remain relevant and representative. Please consider putting your name forward next year.
We have updated the CAASA Adjudication Rules. They will be available on our web site early next year.
We get requests to nominate an adjudicator from time to time. We are not the default nominating body stipulated in the 4 standard forms; however we are gaining traction through our activities and our profile.
We have scheduled a discussion with SAFCEC and two other industry bodies early next year around our Low Value Dispute Resolution Model (LVDR) and the need to train contractors and subcontractors on the right use of adjudication as an effective means of resolving construction disputes, both speedily and economically. Out of the 2 264 referrals in the UK, 425 (nearly 20%) were dealt with via a low value/fast track model. This can only be of benefit to our industry.
We held our Annual Conference in November. While the in-person/on-line mode lets us reach out to members in other areas it also detracts from in person attendance which is where attendees get the greatest benefit. Any suggestions as to how we can overcome this are welcome. The topics themselves were current and on point, as were the speakers.
In closing I would like to thank the members of the Executive Committee for all their contributions and continued commitment to the promotion of adjudication. It is all done voluntarily and is much appreciated.
To all CAASA members I wish you a peaceful and blessed festive period.
