Edition May 2026

Mameetse Masemola, the freshly minted Head of Infrastructure South Africa (ISA) – the country’s central agency tasked with accelerating infrastructure investment –had little to no time to bask in the glory of the recent feather in her cap.

Eager to embrace the daunting task ahead, the decorated bureaucrat rolled her sleeves and got her hands dirty.

During an interview with the Public Sector Manager magazine, her warm embrace is at odds with the imposing task ahead.

In January 2026, Masemola began her tenure after acting in the role since 2023. In this role, she spearheads the country’s infrastructure strategy and oversees the National Infrastructure Plan 2050. Her role focuses on developing a pipeline of strategic infrastructure projects, strengthening policy frameworks, and coordinating efforts between government, state-owned entities and the private sector to drive economic growth and development.

Before assuming the role, Masemola served as Deputy Director-General for Infrastructure Investment Planning and Oversight at ISA and held senior roles in information and communications technology (ICT), and trade sector development, including as Government Convener for the Trade and Industry Chamber at the National Economic Development and Labour Council.

Infrastructure investment

Masemola says her appointment secures business continuity while keeping ISA aligned with its strategic objectives, as government steps up efforts to fast-track infrastructure investment and stimulate economic growth.

Her approach to the role has been shaped by advice she received earlier in her career.

“Earlier in my career, I was appointed as an acting deputy director at the Department of Trade and Industry,” (now Department of Trade, Industry and Competition), she recalls.

“My mentor then advised me not to pay attention to the word ‘acting’ in the role, but rather I fulfil the functions and responsibilities of that role to my best. The acting was really preparing me to be in a role where I can provide leadership and stewardship over the organisation”.

Now at the helm of ISA, Masemola is responsible for steering a key institution established to coordinate and accelerate infrastructure development across the country – a task she says lies at the heart of South Africa’s economic ambitions.

A balancing act

Established in September 2020, ISA has a set mandate in the Infrastructure Development Act of 2014.

“When we were established... we needed to put together a national infrastructure plan for the country... that is essentially the north star when it comes to issues of planning, of prioritisation and of identification of what we call strategic integrated projects”.

The goal is to align infrastructure investment with the country’s long-term development agenda, including the National Development Plan’s [NDP] target that gross fixed capital formation should reach 30% of GDP [gross domestic product].

“Two thirds of that 30% must emanate from private sector investments in infrastructure, and one third must be from government,” she explains.

Achieving this balance, she says, requires careful planning and a clear prioritisation framework.

Prioritising development frameworks

In this regard, ISA prioritises projects based on national development frameworks, including the NDP, the Infrastructure Plan 2050 and the National Spatial Development Framework.

These frameworks help guide decisions on which projects should move forward, she said.

“At the top level, we have got four priority sectors – water and sanitation, energy and electricity, freight transport and logistics, as well as ICT and digital communications infrastructure,” Masemola says.

“These are the network industries. Every community, every business, every household requires these four basic services in order for us to participate in the economy”.

Beyond these core sectors, ISA also looks at social infrastructure.

“...In addition to these four basic services, we also look at social infrastructure – things like human settlements, school infrastructure, as well as health infrastructure,” she says.

Projects from both the public and private sectors can be registered with ISA, after which the organisation applies a rigorous evaluation process.

“We look at which projects can transfer fiscal risk away from the public sector to the private sector, which contribute more to localisation and which contribute more to job creation.”

The approach, she says, ensures that decisions are based on data rather than sentiment.

“We take away emotion from identifying things as priority... it is very important that we apply a level of objectivity in the identification of the pipeline”.

Reducing red tapes

A central part of ISA’s work involves helping projects overcome regulatory hurdles that often delay implementation.

Masemola describes this as “regulatory unblocking”.

“Any project, no matter where it will be located, will require multiple authorisations from a government perspective,” she explains. “Whether it is a permit, a licence or an exemption”.

Renewable energy projects, for example, require dozens of approvals before construction can begin.

“Every renewable energy project requires at least 53 permits and licences,” she says. “Whether it is access to servitudes, a letter of no objection from the Department of Transport, the Department of Defence, licences required from the Air Traffic and Navigation Services, from municipalities and so on.

“These projects will not reach financial close unless those authorisations are in place,” she adds.

“We help them to obtain those permits and licences in the shortest period of time so they reach financial close and then they go to procurement and then they construct the solar panels or the wind farms.”

Project preparation

Another major challenge in infrastructure development, she said, is ensuring that projects are properly prepared before they are presented to potential investors.

“Research tells us that 80% of major government projects fail to get to financial close and completion because of poor planning and preparation,” Masemola says.

ISA, therefore, focuses heavily on project preparation.

“We are mandated to work upstream of the value chain,” she explains. “There is project development, the financing component, the contracting phase and then the implementation phase. We prepare and package projects such that they are viable and can get funding and financing”.

Some of these projects form part of ISA’s project preparation pipeline.

“These are projects that are currently not funded but are strategic and of economic importance,” she explains. “ISA must work to do your prefeasibility studies, quantify certain things, including financial and economic models to get these projects to where we can present them to financing institutions”.

Private sector investment

Masemola says attracting private sector investment remains critical to meeting South Africa’s infrastructure needs.

“The Minister of Finance has been very clear that too few of the projects in government’s pipeline are public-private partnerships and too few use blended finance,” she adds.

To address this, reforms have been introduced to streamline the framework for public-private partnerships (PPPs).

“One of the things that were identified was a lack of capacity in the PPP unit to consider all of these submissions that are being received,” she explains.

The revised framework now allows for unsolicited bids and gives accounting officers greater flexibility to initiate smaller PPP projects without going through lengthy central approvals.

“From where we are sitting, we believe that the current PPP framework will enable us to ramp up the number of PPPs in the current administration and beyond,” she says.

The results

Masemola believes the infrastructure push is beginning to yield results.

“The Quarterly Labour Force Survey from Statistics South Africa in the last two quarters has shown that the construction sector is the number one sector contributing to new jobs in the economy,” she says.

She attributes this to a combination of policy reforms and institutional efforts aimed at improving the investment environment.

“If you look at the enabling environment that has been put in place – structural reforms championed by Operation Vulindlela, the work undertaken by National Treasury, and the efforts of ISA and the Infrastructure Fund – all of that heavy lifting is beginning to bear fruit now,” Masemola says.

Ultimately, Masemola sees ISA’s role as ensuring that infrastructure investment translates into economic development across the country. ❖