Since the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) hosted its Construction Summit on Crime-Free Construction Sites in November last year and key officials signed the Durban Declaration pledging to tackle crime in the sector, more than 745 extortion cases have been reported and 240 arrests made, Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson has revealed.

“We are . . . cracking down on the criminality that has plagued this sector. The so-called construction mafia has, for too long, operated with impunity – extorting contractors, disrupting worksites and chasing away investment. But . . . progress is being made,” he said at the Built Environment Indaba, in Midrand, on April 10

Macpherson said the DPWI was working closely with the South African Police Service (Saps), the National Treasury and the Construction Industry Development Board to ensure construction mafia criminals were brought to book.

He criticised the existing government procurement policy that mandates 30% of certain public sector contracts, particularly in construction and infrastructure projects, be subcontracted to designated groups, such as black-owned small- to medium-sized enterprises, youth, women, people with disabilities and cooperatives, where feasible.

This policy, which is aligned with the goals of broad-based black economic empowerment and implemented through government procurement regulations, arises from the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act regulations, most notably the 2017 amendments.

Macpherson said the current structure of this 30% requirement had inadvertently created an entry point for criminal syndicates to exploit the system.

The syndicates use threats or violence to force their way into projects under the guise of claiming this 30% subcontracting opportunity, thereby displacing legitimate black-owned businesses and causing chaos and extortion on construction sites.

He commended the Black Business Council for the Built Environment (BBCBE) for recognising that unless the 30% set aside is restructured or better regulated, it will continue to serve as a loophole for these criminal elements, rather than uplifting genuine black-owned enterprises as intended.

“It is after all, black-owned businesses that have suffered the most as a result of being forcibly and violently removed from sites by these mafia outfits. To this end, I am incredibly grateful to the BBCBE for their support in recognising that the way the 30% set aside is structured, is the gateway for this construction mayhem to continue.

“We must get back to first principles to ensure genuine inclusion and participation is achieved, and not just paying off those with the biggest guns,” Macpherson said.

He said that, just last week, construction company WBHO had informed him that it had seen an 80% decline in lost construction hours year-on-year owing to the actions taken by the DPWI and Saps to secure sites. 

“Our work is paying off. We will be shortly releasing our proposal for a national facilitation framework to institutionalise a single model of social facilitation to ensure a uniformed approach to working with communities and local businesses in a bid to replicate successes we have seen in [some] provinces,” Macpherson added.