‘Construction mafia’ say they aren’t anything of the sort. They’re ‘law enforcers’

“We are not a mafia” say the group connected to some of the disruptions of massive construction projects over the past two years, as reports of a so-called construction mafia terrorising officials at construction sites have sparked calls for government to intervene.

Police have to date arrested 147 people since 2018 in connection with the disruption of construction sites on an array of charges related to malicious damage of property, firearm possession, and robbery.

However, police, community activists, and a group connected to some of the disruptions are all in agreement that these disruptions are not the work of an organised crime syndicate, though their reasons for agreeing differ vastly.

According to the Delangokubona SA Business Forum, members of the forum routinely take part in the disruption of construction sites in order to “enforce” the law pertaining to community benefit from construction sites.

According to Thabani Mzulweni, chairperson of the forum, construction disruptions are sparked by communities demanding companies follow the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act, which allocates a percentage of the work to local businesses, and jobs to the local community. He denied any of the group’s members had been convicted of a crime related to the disruptions.

“Our organisation knows the Act; we are a law-abiding organisation and South Africa is ruled by the law,” said Mzuleweni. “I have never heard of any member of our organisation taken through prosecution and found guilty. What we hear is from the news, but as far as our organisation is concerned, the only thing we rely on is the laws of the country.”

The “construction mafia” was also blamed for listed construction and engineering group Aveng and German group Strabag International pulling out of an SA National Roads Agency (Sanral) project that forms part of the N2 Wild Coast Road Construction project, fearing for the safety of their employees.

According to Mzulweni, Delangokubona was involved in the disruption of the site, but the group took no responsibility for the current stand-off between Sanral and the Aveng Strabag Joint Venture over the termination of that contract, which the company said was a result of the violent disruptions at the site in 2018.

“The community and our members disrupted that occasion for the same reason. They don’t want to outline what the law is saying. But apparently now they are suing each other. We are not involved if Sanral and the main contractor are now suing each other. Now the main contractor has gone back to Germany. The forum has nothing to do with that.”

Leader of the Amadiba Crisis Committee Nonhle Mbuthuma said the disruption of that project arose after community members in the Wild Coast Amadiba territory locked horns with the contractors over the hiring of local workers and the 30% benefit communities should get.

Meanwhile, national police spokesperson Brigadier Vish Naidoo said it was incorrect to refer to the crime patterns related to the construction site disruptions as organised crime, but resources from organised crime units and intelligence gathered over the past two years were being used to investigate these cases.

He said each case was dealt with according to the charges related to each case, but there was no dedicated unit nationally or provincially dealing with the crimes as a cluster.

To his understanding, these incidences began as a trend around the end 2017 and as news spread about the 30% benefit rule through media and various community groups, it became a more common practice for common criminals to use this opportunity to extort money from construction officials during random attacks.

He said the 147 arrests should serve as a warning to those who wanted to follow in their footsteps that police were taking these crimes as ‘very serious.’

simnikiweh@citizen.co.za

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