Potential investors will be looking at reports of business extortion with horror

As South Africa slides further down the slope of lawlessness towards anarchy, it is chilling to see reports that our major mining and construction companies list extortion as one of their biggest business concerns.

So-called community or business groups are pressurising companies to either pay “protection” money, or to include their members in lucrative contracts, even when those people have no relevant experience.

ALSO READ: Value of SA mining production breaks through R1 trillion mark

Failure to comply can mean sabotage to company plant and equipment, or carefully orchestrated “community protests” and blockades of mines or building sites. But the extortion can also include threats against ordinary employee and executives.

James Lorimer, the Democratic Alliance’s shadow minister for mineral resources, said he has no faith the government will effectively deal with these crimes and adhere to the rule of law, adding, ominously: “This is definitely the final nail in the coffin of investment.”

Already last year, Canada’s Fraser Institute’s Annual Survey of Mining Companies, a global industry benchmark, ranked SA at 75th out of 84 jurisdictions, compared with 60th in 2020 and 40th in 2019.

ALSO READ: Value of SA mining production breaks through R1 trillion mark

Even more worrying is that our story on this today comes from Bloomberg, an internationally respected business news service. It is a story potential investors will be looking at with horror.