Construction mafias face the music

Thirteen suspects were apprehended in connection with construction mafias in Cape Town and appeared in court on Friday, June 28, 2024.

Newzroom Afrika reports that two of the suspects were allegedly linked to the murder of Cape Town city official Wendy Kloppers in February last year.

“It’s important to recognise that this is part of a broader web of individuals who wanted to capture human settlements in the City of Cape Town,” said Cape Town Human Settlements MMC, Carl Pophaim.

“This broader group of people who want to stop delivery unless they are benefitting from it.”

He explained that the metro has had to increase its tender cap for security services to protect officials.

“We are going to re-advertise to ensure that we protect our contractors, protector officials, to make sure that we do justice to what Wendy Kloppers and her family went through so no other official has to go through it as well,” said Pophaim.

Construction mafias, or “construction business forums”, are a known scourge in the industry, demanding a percentage of payment or a security fee from contractors working in areas in which they operate.

They use intimidation tactics and violence to get contractors to comply with their wishes.

Construction mafias are particularly prevalent in the rural regions of KwaZulu-Natal, but the province has had enough.

KwaZulu-Natal public works and infrastructure MEC Martin Meyer said he plans to establish a task force to fight the plague of construction mafias in the province.

“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.”

Specialist investigator Mike Bolhuis previously said that the primary driver behind these criminals’ success was the failure of the South African Police Service (SAPS) to address the problem.

He added that authorities are often involved with construction mafias, describing it as one of the most lucrative crimes currently committed in South Africa.

According to Bolhuis, these types of crimes only thrive with the help of authorities, which can include government, municipal, and SAPS officials.

“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 said the involvement of corrupt police officials means members of the SAPS are afraid of construction mafias.

He added that they don’t get involved and do nothing to address the crime.

To this end, SAPS members have even advised that contractors and property developers work with construction mafias.

One such example comes from September 2022, when a developer working to complete two township projects in KwaZulu-Natal approached the police for assistance after receiving threats.

It said it was forced to make a temporary agreement with the heavily 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.”

“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,” they added.