Big fight coming for construction mafias

KwaZulu-Natal public works and infrastructure MEC Martin Meyer has set his sights on construction mafias in the province and plans to establish a task team to fight the plague, Newzroom Afrika reports.

Construction mafias, or “construction 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.

“We will be engaging with all our colleagues to ensure that we have a strong task team that includes other roleplayers from the construction industry, roleplayers from civic society, CPFs, and people on the ground,” said Meyer.

“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.”

According to specialist investigator Mike Bolhuis, one of the primary drivers behind the success of construction mafias is the failure of South African authorities to take action against them.

Moreover, Bolhuis said authorities are also often involved in the crimes.

“Today, it’s one of the most lucrative times committed in the country because it has so many authorities involved,” said Bolhuis.

He explained that crime only thrives when authorities are involved, and in the case of construction mafias, these can be government, municipal, and police officials.

These mafias go to construction sites and extort money from contractors, subcontractors, and developers under the premise of a legislative requirement that developers must subcontract 30% of public sector projects to local contractors.

“It’s become a situation where if something is to be built in an area if they as a group are not used, they will make sure that those who oppose them are dealt with severely, and they do this and get away with this and can do this because there is no one to stop them,” said Bolhuis.

He added that due to the high involvement of corrupt police officers in construction mafias, the South African Police Service (SAPS) is scared of them.

“So, they do not get involved, and they do not stop and prevent this crime,” he said.

In one example, the SAPS told a KwaZulu-Natal-based property developer to work with the construction mafia to complete two township projects in the region in September 2022.

The developer said it was forced to make a temporary agreement with the armed men, who claimed to represent local construction business forums.

“These guys have felt marginalised and were not being given opportunities, and felt that they needed to force it to happen,” the developer said.

“They then believe that using a heavy-handed approach would force one to comply.”

The developer added that the police were no help and even advised that they should work with the construction mafias.

“Previously, when we went to report to SAPS to intervene they told us that we need to find a way to work with these guys,” it said.

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 holding 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, says 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.”