Durban – The “construction mafia” reportedly violently disrupts construction sites and extorts protection fees from businesses in almost all parts of South Africa.
This was according to the “ENACT Organised Crime Index (Africa 2023) – Africa Organised Crime Index 2023: Increasing criminality, growing vulnerabilities”, which revealed that in southern Africa, mafia-style groups did not exist or held very little influence in most countries, except South Africa, where heavily armed and violent gangs are particularly active in the drug trade and involved in extortion. The “construction mafia”, for instance, violently disrupts construction sites and extorts protection fees from businesses in almost all parts of the country, including the more rural provinces.
The index revealed that in South Africa, the construction mafia bears the hallmarks of a mafia-style group. Often parading as business forums or economic transformation groups (sometimes with trademarked names), they have known leaders, identifiable membership and control the territories in which they operate.
The construction mafia is involved in large-scale systemic extortion. Its modus operandi is to invade construction sites across the country, demanding a percentage (usually 30%) of the project contract value and the employment of its members on these projects, the index read.
It said that the phenomenon began in KwaZulu-Natal in the townships of uMlazi and KwaMashu in 2014/15, when two distinct “business forums” emerged: Delangokubona Business Forum and KwaMashu Youth in Action Movement. They were founded on the principles of a form of economic transformation to address growing unemployment and inequality.
In 2016, it said, the two groups merged and began operating alongside other heavily armed local business forums that had mushroomed and were disrupting almost all construction sites within the KZN province. From 2018, the construction mafia’s influence began to spread across the country. Groups in other provinces began emulating the KZN local business forums, halting and disrupting multibillion-dollar construction projects. In 2019, these disruptions affected at least 183 infrastructure and construction projects worth more than R63 billion across the country.
The index said the groups are characterised by a willingness and ability to use violence when invading construction sites to ensure their demands are met. Within the construction sector, many businesses have opted to engage with these groups, while others have turned to the courts to seek interdicts against the business forums, but to little effect. The damage caused by the business forums has not only delayed the delivery of several important infrastructure projects but also contributed to the demise of several businesses.
“Small enterprises within the sector have been the most affected, losing opportunities for subcontracts because they lack the resources of larger companies to deal with the construction mafia.
“Moreover, the influence of the construction mafia has also spread beyond construction to other sectors, with groups demanding stakes in soft-drink manufacturer Coca-Cola Beverages and business tenders from the KZN treasury. Of concern is that the construction mafia is known to have links to certain ‘taxi-mafia’ elements of the minibus taxi industry and some influential politicians,” the index read.
Since 2019, the “ENACT Organised Crime Index for Africa (Index)” has been published as a biennial snapshot of criminality and resilience on the continent. The 2023 index is the third iteration of this tool, offering an insight into the criminal markets, criminal actors and the state of resilience in Africa in 2022, as well as a longitudinal analysis spanning 2018 to 2022.
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