Children play in the streets in Guguletu, a township about ten miles outside Cape Town, South Africa. (Getty)
Beneficiaries of a municipal housing project in Gugulethu, Cape Town, will have to wait indefinitely because of disruptions by the “construction mafia”.
Gugulethu has been subject to criminal groups calling themselves the Government, the Guptas and Boko Haram. They are believed to be responsible for extortion rackets claiming “protection fees” from local businesses and residents.
The Luyolo, Tambo Village and Gxagxa construction sites in the township have been at a standstill since mid-March. A second shooting incident since the start of the year, on 17 March, caused the appointed construction company to withdraw, halting a project of 729 houses.
Western Cape MEC of infrastructure, Tertuis Simmers, visited the construction site on 1 June and appealed to residents to come forward with information and “report construction mafia”.
“To date, due to the site closures, the department has incurred financial losses amounting to R8 560,000,” said Simmers in a press statement.
“I would like to appeal to the community of greater Gugulethu to come forward and work together with the department to ensure that this project remains on track,” urged Simmers. “This project is intended to benefit the community from the greater Gugulethu who are the elderly, backyard dwellers, people living medically certified disabilities and for that reason we cannot allow anarchy to reign.”
Mlungisi Mazana, chairperson of the Gugulethu Business Forum, is concerned about whether activities will resume. “We don’t know when they are coming back or if they would be coming back. The effect thereof is that the beneficiaries will have to wait indefinitely.”
Many livelihoods have been affected by the closure of the site.
According to Mazana, an estimated R74-million of the total housing budget, valued at more than R200-million, was earmarked for local residents. Locals who received contractual work or rendered services on the site now have to find work elsewhere “to put food on the table”.
Mazana did not want to speculate about the shootings as investigations into the two incidents are ongoing.
A shooting on 28 February forced the Tambo Village construction site to close for a week. A week later a second incident took place on 17 March, resulting in the closure of all sites.
Simmers said: “It is believed that these incidents were preceded by acts of intimidation and threats at the sites by certain groups claiming to be representatives of an unknown business forum.
“The department will continue to engage its stakeholders, contractors and law enforcement agencies as it seeks to find a solution and get construction work underway.”
This is nothing new in the Western Cape. In 2019 the Mail & Guardian reported that private sector projects are not immune from destructive actions by people demanding work. A R2.4-billion German oil storage investment, being built by Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon (WBHO) in Saldanha Bay on the West Coast was halted after “armed gangs” demanded a stake.
In 2019, about 183 infrastructure and construction projects nationwide, valued at more than R63-billion according to one industry body, have been hindered — often by violent disruptions led by entities claiming to be local community or business forums, demanding a stake, typically 30%, in projects.
The phenomenon emerged in the Durban area of KwaZulu-Natal and began hitting the headlines in 2016. It spread across the country at a time when the construction sector is in dire straits. A series of major players filed for business rescue or have reported depressing financials. State infrastructure projects was the worst hit with the likes of the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) seeing more than 60 projects affected to a varying extent.
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