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KwaZulu Natal public works and infrastructure MEC Martin Meyer said he will continue with his plans to oust construction mafias in the province despite the death threats made against him, the Sunday Times reports.
His plan includes meeting with legitimate business forums in the industry and establishing a task team.
Construction mafias, which call themselves “community business forums”, are a well-known problem in the industry, demanding a percentage of payment or a security fee from contractors working in areas in which they operate.
They do so under the premise of a legislative requirement that developers must subcontract 30% of public sector projects to local contractors.
Public works minister Dean Macpherson recently revealed the threats made against Meyer, which included a bullet casing placed in his car, something the MP says should not be happening.
Meyer said he would engage various roleplayers, including construction industry stakeholders, civil society, community policing forums, and people on the ground to establish a strong task force.
“Let us be clear. The construction mafia is not there to help the people. They are not there to get money to share in the communities,” said Meyer.
Meyer pointed out that the extortion of construction mafias affects both the public and private sectors, as many major construction companies will no longer take contracts in the province because of it.
Former Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Sihle Zikalala has blamed the mafias for the estimated R68 billion in economic costs to the South African economy.
Similarly, according to Meyer, infrastructure and governmental projects, such as schools, struggle to reach completion due to the constant interruption caused by construction mafias.
Meyer is also looking towards community engagement and inclusion to tackle this problem, as they are the ones meant to benefit from the policies enabling construction mafias.
However, Meyer says that it is also a law enforcement problem and demands a high level of engagement from the minister of police.
Threat to South Africa’s cheap fibre dreams
The intimidation of construction mafias applies not only to large developments and building construction, but also hinders the service delivery of South Africa’s fibre network operators (FNOs).
As a result, FNOs face higher operating costs and challenges in rolling out their networks to underserved areas.
To mitigate risks, Vumatel previously told MyBroadband that it liaises with community members for guidance and decides on an approach based on their feedback.
“Based on their feedback, we will engage with either the local police or security providers as appropriate,” it said. “We do have security escorts who accompany our team.”
However, Dewald Booysen, chief operations officer at Vumatel parent company Maziv, previously told MyBroadband that security escorts aren’t always effective.
“It may exacerbate the situation, putting both our staff and the community in greater danger,” said Booysen.
The level of intimidation from these business forums is a cause for serious concern.
Link Africa chief sales and marketing officer, Mark O’Donoghue, said construction mafia members have threatened staff with automatic rifles and held them hostage in the past.
“It’s gotten to the point where they’ve arrived at our offices with AK-47s, put staff in boardrooms and held them hostage so they can see our books to see where we’re rolling out and why we’re not using them,” he said.
“You can’t use your own staff. You have to outsource to their staff.”
O’Donoghue added that it isn’t always clear which business forums are in control of different areas, as they frequently change.
“During one fight over a weekend, somebody would have gained access to another area. So now you’re working in an area that you thought was part of one business forum,” he said.
“If we’re going to run a cable now 5km that goes through three different forum areas, we have to consult and hand off staff to the next forum area and the next.”
SOURCE:Death threats for fighting construction mafias – MyBroadband
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