Busisiwe (Busi) Nzo is a practicing professional quantity surveyor (PrQs) registered with the South African Council of Quantity Surveying Profession (SACQSP). She is currently a partner (managing and active) at a private practice, Lakhanya Quantity Surveyors with its base in Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha) and offices in various regions of the country.
Her experience in the professional built environment spans more than 20 years. She also has vast experience in the human settlements space having been involved at different capacities for more than 15 years. This is where her knowledge and understanding of the human settlements development space originates.
She has been involved in various entities within the human settlements development space namely National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC) as a council member and chairing its Technical Advisory Committee (TAC). She was instrumental in the establishment of its first women empowerment programme that saw a number of women contractors and related businesses participate in a funded GIBS programme that enhanced their business skills. She has also served at Gauteng Partnership Fund (an implementing agent of the Gauteng Human Settlements Department, responsible for other programmes such as strategic urban renewal projects and those designed to promote participation of previously disadvantaged owned companies in the affordable rental market). Her contribution has been majorly bringing the technical and business skills and expertise from her core career to the sector and providing a balanced view within such entities. She also serves in the South African Institute of Black Property Practitioners (SAIBPP) Women’s Forum.
Busi has a passion and determination to see transformation within the built environment and property sector and is an advocate for change in the sector that has ample opportunity for increased participation of particularly black women, with all the challenges. Busi is committed to helping create an impact and implement changes within the social housing development space to better the livelihoods of South African communities.
She is currently the Chairperson of the Social Housing Regulatory Authority (SHRA).
The Social Housing Regulatory Authority (SHRA) is an entity of the Department of Human Settlements that is mandated to enable the delivery of the social housing programme. The purpose of social housing is to contribute to the national priority of restructuring South African society to address structural, economic, social, and spatial dysfunctionalities. Social housing therefore contributes to widening the range of housing options available to the low to middle income earners through a rental option.
