Construction Mafia Crackdown

The National Treasury has drafted regulations to the Public Procurement Act to create a specific     framework within which the construction mafia will be prosecuted. It is still a bit unclear what these   regulations will entail, but it is clear that the mafia operates through opportunistically misconstruing the Public Procurement Act. The legislation mandates that 30% of a construction project should be        allocated to a local SMME, to grow, equip and upskill them. However, the mafia used this law to       instead justify extorting people under the guise of being a local business forum or a youth group. They make demands at construction sites and if they do not get their way, they are willing to kill and extort and economically cripple the projects. These actions have reportedly cost the country R68 billion, but the real figure may be much higher. It is difficult to successfully prosecute them because the legal process is very ‘fragile’. These new regulations will likely make it easier for the cases to be reported and for prosecutors to describe the offences on the charge sheet. Let’s watch this space.