Cape Town - South Africa’s civil engineers have joined the battle against the so-called “construction mafia” and have called for partnerships to help roll back crime in South Africa’s multibillion-rand construction industry.
The Bargaining Council for the Civil Engineering Industry (BCCEI) said the construction industry provides employment to more than 475 000 people nationwide, with about one third of these employees living in Cape Town.
The Mother City is home to an equally thriving construction sector, which contributes more than R20 billion to the city’s economy each year.
BCCEI operations manager Lindie Fourie said construction sites had been disrupted countrywide by criminal gangs often presenting themselves as “business forums”.
She said: “The focus has often been on the police to do more about stemming this criminal activity; but the long-term solution really needs everyone’s involvement.”
She said the BCCEI, which represents employers and employees in the civil engineering sector, had an action plan which includes appointing someone to co-ordinate input from project stakeholders, contractors, clients, employees and communities.
This person would be expected to offer guidance to contractors when sites are disrupted by the “construction mafia” or communities. Fourie said this would include working closely with those within the police mandated to address extortion incidents.
Fourie said that as far back as 2020, it had been estimated that the resulting losses suffered by the economy had reached more than R40 billion due to this unlawfulness.
To show its support for the Infrastructure Built Anti-Corruption Forum launched recently by Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Patricia de Lille and Special Investigating Unit advocate Lekgoa Mothibi, the BCCEI has signed the Anti-Corruption Pledge and set up a platform for joint action.
In a bid to assist the organisation’s members to execute their projects safely, BCCEI has created a centralised database with key contacts at regional and national level, including unions, government departments, police, private security, community leaders and taxi associations.
At last week’s construction stakeholders’ engagement forum under the banner “The Big 5 Construct Western Cape”, infrastructure MEC Tertuis Simmers said the “construction mafia” which had gained a foothold in the province was a huge challenge.
Simmers said this mafia activity had derailed a number of strategic projects across the province.
“There has been an alarming increase across the industry in extortion from the construction mafia and forums.
“While we are putting systems in place to ensure that these criminal organisations do not derail our plans, this needs specialist intervention by the police.”
Simmers said the activities of the extortionists were “outright criminal”, especially because the province’s construction projects were aimed at uplifting Western Cape residents.
With the bleak economic outlook and challenges facing the industry, infrastructure development and the construction industry were huge and fairly short-term levers to unlock economic growth and job creation, he said.
The initiative brought together senior decision-makers from the province’s building and construction industries to unlock future opportunities for sustainable development.