Tuesday, November 5, 2024

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DPWI Minister vows to deal with construction mafia

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Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Dean Macpherson, applauded the City of Cape Town announcement that the city would join forces with stakeholders to address the growing threat of “construction mafias” around the City’s developmental projects.

The Minister emphasised “from my very first day in office, I have been clear that the South African government would not be negotiating with criminals such as the construction mafia but would rather work with all role-players to address this scourge in our communities to safeguard our infrastructure projects.”

He added, “I therefore welcome the joint effort by the private and public sectors in Cape Town and look forward to similar actions being replicated nationwide.”

The City of Cape Town, Atterbury Properties, Old Mutual and other players made a joint statement of intent to join forces in the fight against criminals seeking to profit from developmental projects.

The Minister further added that “to eradicate the rise of lawlessness at construction sites across the country, it will require that we all work together, and make use of new and innovatory approaches to fight crime.”

The Minister intends to meet with both the Mayor of the City of Cape Town, Geordin Hill-Lewis and eThekwini Municipality Mayor, Cyril Xaba. He intends to discuss how national and local government could work together in addressing the issue of construction mafias; a topic also discussed with the City of Tshwane Mayo, Cilliers Brink. The Minister and Mayor Brink visited the Telkom Towers complex in Pretoria, where the Minister announced he would commission an inquiry into the purchase of the property.

The Minister called on the construction sector to play “a bigger and more important role in growing our country’s economy.” He stated this could only be possible “if we ensure our [construction] sites are safe and public and private sector investments are secure from lawlessness and extortion,” he said in his statement on Monday.

Minister MacPherson hopes that working together, his department and the various metropolitan cities shall be able “to turn the tide against the construction mafia in South Africa,” ensuring they no longer operate with impunity. The DPWI will work alongside the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the South African Revenue Service (SARS) to identify criminal elements and ensure they are investigated and brought to justice.

“It is imperative that to grow the economy and to create jobs, we turn South Africa into a construction site, which can only take place if we break the back of the construction mafia.”

The construction mafia is estimated to cost the economy R17 billion per annum. Special Investigating Unit (SIU) spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago in December last year said, “Research documents published during the last two years have revealed the impact of construction sector mafia on construction projects and investment in the sector. In the period leading up to 2022, up to R63 billion worth of projects were reported, and delayed or cancelled as a result of the extortion tactics and disruptions posed by construction mafia.”

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