Durban — Five suspects believed to be members of the notorious “construction mafia gangs” that have been disrupting construction sites in and around Pietermaritzburg are expected to appear in the Camperdown Magistrate’s Court today (Monday).
The five were arrested on Saturday by the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Reaction Task Team established to curb construction mafia-related activities. They face charges of intimidation and disturbance of infrastructure.
KZN police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda said the task team responded to reports of a group of people who were disturbing activities at a construction site where a bridge was under construction in uMsunduzi.
“On arrival at the scene, police arrested the five suspects and were duly charged for intimidation as well as the disturbance of a construction site. The five, aged between 28 and 44 years old, will appear in the Camperdown Magistrate’s Court on Monday,” said police.
Last week, another government construction site was disrupted when the people calling themselves business forum stormed the R109 million site demanding subcontracting work. The site belonged to the Transport Department. Several other sites were also disrupted.
This prompted a visit by Public Works and Infrastructure MEC Martin Meyer who warned the group that his department would not tolerate the disruption of government construction programmes. Meyer said he was prepared to listen to grievances of genuine business people but not to the disruptive group in the name of business forums.
In an effort to separate criminals from legitimate business forums, Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson and Meyer will hold a summit on the matter. The two have jointly agreed that an urgent meeting with all the respective MECs in all provinces and the ministers in the law-enforcement cluster should be held in the province to develop a decisive response to the construction mafia across the country.
The two recently met where Meyer provided the minister with a report on how the construction mafia problem has resurfaced in the province.
Macpherson in a statement on Friday said that shortly after he was appointed Public Works and Infrastructure Minister, he vowed to deal decisively with the construction mafia and to restore the rule of law at construction sites across the country.
The minister said that during a recent oversight visit to the uMkhomazi water project, he learnt how an altercation with the construction mafia led to the death of three people and the assault of another, saying this was simply unacceptable.
The minister said his department will never be able to attract additional infrastructure investment and turn the country into a construction site, while this lawlessness continues.
“This is why it is imperative to host this important meeting with Public Works MECs across the country and the ministers in the Law Enforcement cluster to develop a comprehensive plan to turn the tide against the construction mafia. Disruption of construction sites by forums demanding a 30% slice in the projects started in 2014.
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