Shakedowns and construction mafia: Five years, more than 700 arrests-By Roy Cokayne

[Nat Quinn]

Shakedowns and construction mafia: Five years, more than 700 arrests-By Roy Cokayne

A total of 722 arrests have been made since 2019 related to acts of extortion in South Africa, including for the disruption of construction sites by the construction mafia.

Brigadier Lucas Ramangwa, section head of National Special Operations and Investigations at the Organised Crime Detective Service of the South African Police Service (SAPS), said on Monday this had resulted in a total of 89 years and seven months imprisonment for the perpetrators of these crimes.

Ramangwa was speaking at a Master Builders South Africa (MBSA) webinar on “Construction … Undisrupted” and indicated these arrests and convictions have occurred since the establishment of the National Priority Committee on Extortions in 2019.

Deputy Minister of Police Cassel Mathale said South Africa is increasingly witnessing the emergence of a new kind of criminality in the form of organised groups targeting the economic sectors under the banner of “radical economic transformation”.

Mathale said these entities have organised themselves into groups known as “local business forums” and they invade various sector sites across the country, demanding money or a stake in development projects.

“This kind of business sabotage impacts negatively on economic and infrastructure development including investor confidence,” said Mathale.

“Non-compliance to their demands result[s] in destruction of properties, work stoppages, threat[s] to lives or even death. This is extortion at its peak.”

MBSA executive director Roy Mnisi said illegal construction site invasions have not only devastated the construction sector but also adversely affected national economic growth, causing a huge infrastructure development backlog and loss of employment.

“Projects in transport, water and energy sectors continue to suffer from these attacks, causing a serious financial loss to both government and contractors.

“Every month billions of rand are lost due to these delays and the abandonment of construction sites as contractors fear the loss of life of their employees,” said Mnisi.

“Department and municipal infrastructure projects are stopped and that causes not only fruitless and wasteful expenditure but affects the state’s ability to deliver public assets.

“Private sector infrastructure investments equally suffer in the hands of these extortionists who intimidate and harass everyone on site.”

Construction sector ‘worst affected’

Mathale said the construction sector has been the worst affected by these criminal activities, with dire consequences for the economy of the country.

He stressed that this form of economic extortion is criminal and often multi-faceted, frequently including a percentage demand from small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) as well as big business projects.

“Of late, these extortionists seem to know no bounds,” said Mathale.

“They are even targeting the ordinary men on the streets trying to make ends meet through their respective small scale business ventures.”

“Informal businesses like roadside vendors, barbershops and salons, spaza shops and even the unemployed who are leasing their backrooms to make ends meet have not been spared from this form of crime,” he added.

“This is a serious threat to the authority of the state and the safety and security of the citizens of South Africa and we are determined to put a stop to it. We refuse to co-govern with criminals.”

Quiet acquiescence

Mathale said the biggest challenge they have found with extortion is the secrecy around it.

He said to avoid work stoppages and damage to their resources, companies succumb to the demands while ordinary victims similarly also do not report it for fear of further victimisation and therefore quietly pay the demanded fee.

“They do not realise that such payment will also perpetuate the extortion against themselves but also to others around them.

“Therefore, our plea to the sector and the community is that they should not pay but should immediately report any demand for such payment,” he said.

“We have as a government and as the SAPS been unequivocal in our call to criminals that this country will not and will never be a haven for criminals or organised crime syndicates.”

Mathale said special focus is being placed on violent contact crime and economic crime, including business extortion or the construction mafia syndicates.

He highlighted some of the interventions to date:

• The establishment of investigation teams under the Organised Crime Investigation Component to investigate extortion at construction sites/construction mafias in all the provinces;

• Ensuring that the investigation of the cases is monitored and managed at the office of the national component head of Organised Crime Investigations;

• Ensuring that provinces are addressing the groupings and identified kingpins through project-driven investigations;

• The establishment of the National Priority Committee on Extortion, reporting to the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (Natjoints); and

• The development and implementation of the National Policing Strategy, which, among other things, is intended to respond to such crimes and also ensure that additional crime prevention and combating resources are allocated to this.

Arrests

Mathale said significant arrests have already been made so far, including the arrest of Ralph Stanfield, who is linked to ‘The Firm’ criminal gang grouping that is part of the construction mafia in the Cape Town area, and 15 accomplices.

He said they appeared in court in Cape Town in June on 32 charges – including the murder of City of Cape Town official Wendy Kloppers, the murder of off-duty police officer Faizel Adams, the murder of gang member Ismail Abrahams, and the attempted murders of gang members Joel Booysen and Gareth Potch.

Mathale said well-known taxi boss Bonke Makalala, chair of the Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association (Cata) and vice-chair of the disciplinary committee of the SA National Taxi Council (Santaco), was arrested in December 2023 for a number of offences – including three murders, attempted murder, intimidation, possession of unauthorised firearms and impersonation of a police official.

“Members of the public and police officers linked to this grouping are also making appearances in various courts in the Western Cape and Gauteng regions,” he said.

Fibre installation company says no to demand for R50 000

Mathale said the North West Provincial Organised Crime office received a complaint on 18 July 2024 from contractor Liquid Telecommunications, which was installing fibre on the N12 from Klerksdorp to Wolmaransstad and from Klerksdorp to Potchefstroom.

He said Liquid Telecommunications alleged they were approached by two males on 15 July 2024 who claimed to be from the community of Klerksdorp and demanded work as protectors and payment of R50 000.

He said Liquid Telecommunications left the site from 15 to 19 July 2024 but then approached the office of the Organised Crime Detective Service for assistance.

Mathale said a team consisting of organised crime, crime intelligence and provincial tactical response teams conducted an undercover operation on 23 July 2024.

This led to the arrest of the suspect who identified himself as Letlhogonolo Molefi, a former Dr Kenneth Kaunda municipality ward councillor.

“I therefore believe that if we work together, we will win this battle,” he said.

Brigadier Ramangwa emphasised that in 95% of all reported instances to the police, the organised crime unit was successful in terms of making arrests.

Challenges

Mathale said despite all the interventions put in place, there are still some challenges that threaten to slow down the successful eradication of this form of crime, including:

• Lack of information or database of stopped construction projects;

• Limited information regarding planned construction projects;

• Witnesses being reluctant to provide witness statements or to testify because they fear for their lives;

• Key stakeholders not taking part in either national or provincial priority committees and forums;

• Late reporting of incidents, resulting in witnesses losing interest in cases when the work is finalised and they are no longer employed by the construction company;

• Intimidation of whistleblowers who provide information about the commission of crime;

• Reluctance to report such crime; and

• Complainants opting to obtain a protection order instead of opening a criminal case.

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