Police are investigating more than 700 hundred cases related to the “construction mafia” since they joined forces with the department of public works in a nationwide clamp down on criminal disruptions at building sites.
Police are investigating more than 700 hundred cases related to the “construction mafia” since they joined forces with the department of public works in a nationwide clamp down on criminal disruptions at building sites.
In a briefing on Friday, Public Works Minister Dean Macpherson said major progress had been made through “intensified intelligence gathering, data tracking and law enforcement operations”.
A national summit last November marked the first time the government met stakeholders to develop a joint approach to bring an end to the construction mafia.
“We have made remarkable progress to restore the rule of law at construction sites and bring an end to extortion by criminal elements,” Macpherson said.
“This includes the deployment of economic infrastructure task teams to known construction mafia hotspots, which ensures that swift arrests take place, and South African infrastructure is protected.
Macpherson said 745 construction-related extortion cases had been reported since November and 240 arrests had been made.
“Gauteng remains the highest contributor, with 241 cases reported with 81 arrests, followed by the Western Cape with 198 reported cases and 73 arrests,” he said.
KwaZulu-Natal was third with 102 cases and 16 arrests, followed by the Eastern Cape with 86 cases and six arrests.
“Collectively, these four provinces account for 84% of all construction mafia extortion cases,” Macpherson said.
He said the anonymous extortion hotline established to deal with such cases had received 779 reports, leading to 30 cases being referred to provincial authorities.
“This is a major breakthrough in our fight against criminals and gangsters who think they can threaten our projects with impunity. The public is no longer scared of them and will provide us with information in order to reclaim their infrastructure projects, which serve their communities,” he said.
Macpherson said his department and the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) were collaborating with the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority to deal with extortionists who pose as members of security firms.
The department was also talking to the treasury to reform regulations under the Public Procurement Act and close the loopholes the construction mafia use to demand 30% of infrastructure project procurement.
“If we want to bring an end to these criminal syndicates at infrastructure projects, we will have to remove the incentives which these criminal syndicates use to operate,” he said.
Macpherson said he had also had “difficult conversations” with provincial leaders about “the role our departments play in rewarding impunity”.
“We are all well aware of the often adverse audit findings we face, but during our discussions, we endorsed a number of measures to remedy the situation. It is imperative that we restore trust and credibility to our departments in order for us to drive further investment and participation,” he said.
Macpherson said a presentation by the auditor general had revealed the slow pace of departments taking action to delist non-performing or corruption accused suppliers. “Since 2002, only one company has been delisted from supplying to the department.”
The department was working with the auditor general to address the performance of its auditing processes to “ensure that public money is spent on its intended outcomes and corruption is met with strict consequence management”.
“Furthermore, we have started working to reform our blacklisting policy, which will ensure that contractors who underperform or engage in unethical practices will no longer have the privilege of working on public projects.
“We have tasked the CIDB to urgently get ahead of underperforming contractors and blacklist them without delay, and to ensure that they are unable to gain any tenders from any sphere or entity of the state. Within the months ahead, the pace at which companies are delisted should be rapidly increased, with over 40 companies facing blacklisting.”
He said there had also been a discussion on improving coordination between MECs in provinces to improve oversight and accountability, and an agreement that the expanded public works programme should be reformed to make it skill-based, ensuring that it places participants on a path towards permanent employment.
Work was also under way to reform the department’s Property Management Trading Entity into a property asset manager of the state.
“We have previously announced the release of 31 state properties for requests for proposals from the public and private sectors, which is set to attract over R10 billion in investment and create close to 165,000 job opportunities,” Macpherson said.
“This will ensure that previously abandoned or neglected public works and infrastructure properties will be used to drive economic and job growth in their communities.”
In the next phase of the programme the department planned to release the small harbours it owns for requests for development by the private sector. This would ensure that small harbours such as Hout Bay and Saldanha Bay could attract additional tourism investment.
Work was also under way to establish a special projects unit in the department to address failed or stalled construction projects, such as the Sarah Baartman Centre of Remembrance Project in Hankey in the Eastern Cape.
“We are hoping to expedite the construction of similar failed projects by making use of the trusted panel of contractors.”
Infrastructure South Africa’s first bid window for project preparation valued at R180 million had attracted 220 bids worth R1.23 trillion, Macpherson said, adding that the winning bids would be announced on 26 May.
