Veiled threats of violence and political sabotage, we take you inside secret meetings where a Tshwane extortionist solicits protection fees from a contractor at TUT reports by Sowetan Reporter
The room suddenly quietens as as Eric Thokwana and his partner Vaina Molokomme walk into the boardroom with a spank of confidence.
His small frame is not as intimidating as his stern face and unfriendly and no-nonsense aura that he seems to carry with him. Soon after Thokwana takes his seat, the facilitator of the meeting tries to break the ice by joking about Thokwana’s TruCaller name but the joke only lands on other attendees and not on Thokwana who only sneers at the banter.
This scene played out during the meeting at Tshwane University of Technology’s boardroom in Pretoria CBD two weeks ago where the university and the contractor Petmore Taruvinga met with Thokwana for the first time to discuss his demands for a protection fee to ensure that the renovation project at TUT continues unhindered.
Thokwana and his gang had visited the construction site on Nana Sita Street several times before to get details about the three-month project.
He kicked off the meeting by flexing his “credentials” and influence in the capital city as a member of the community police forum.
“At the central police station, they know me. I also don’t want to go deep politically... If ever I was so arrogant I would have brought 50 to 100 people to come and shut down [the TUT project] but we are not project hijackers. We know all the community forums in Tshwane. We are just coming from a difficult meeting at the Manhattan Hotel and the community is fighting because that hotel is booked by government officials and the community must benefit. We have just shut down the hotel,” he said firmly to the shock of the attendees.
Taruvinga explained to Thokwana that they were not obligated to hire local labour as the project was a private tender. However, Thokwana objected to this, claiming that TUT was receiving government grants from taxpayers money and had a responsibility to help communities.
“It’s a concern to the community when any development, either small or big, we have to fight to eradicate poverty. The government is injecting taxpayers funds into TUT and we have to make sure that those funds are used in a correct manner where our community is getting something to change their lives.
“We are not here to bulldoze you, we are here to request how can we share this cake that you are having. And we are not saying we are going to take the whole loaf, can we at least have one slice of that loaf,” Thokwana said without a response from the visibly shaken Taruvinga.
He had initially claimed to attend the meeting on behalf of the unemployment community of ward 58 where he claims to come from but within an hour he asked for a caucus meeting with Molokomme and TUT’s social facilitator Dimakatso Shirinda.
They emerged five minutes later.
“Essentially, Mr Thokwana says he’d like to be the CLO (community liaison officer) and I told him that would not be possible because the process must be done through the office of the speaker and the size of this project does not allow for that provision,” said Shirinda.
Molokomme added that Thokwane would have to be paid R12,500 to show appreciation for his duties to protect the project.
This suggestion threw the meeting into another debacle of how they would describe Thokwane’s appointment between the site manager, site agent and site representative.
“If you guys agree the name will have to be changed to site something,” suggested Shirinda to Taruvinga and his colleague who agreed before they parted ways.
Essentially, Mr Thokwana says he’d like to be the CLO (community liaison officer) and I told him that would not be possible because the process must be done through the office of the speaker and the size of this project does not allow for that provision.
— TUT’s social facilitator Dimakatso Shirinda.
In a follow-up meeting with Taruvinga to finalise the deal, Thokwana was asked to bring his CV and ID for vetting but he refused this saying his appointment was “not official and permanent”.
He took the second meeting to affirm his demands and to let Taruvinga know about his alleged informants at TUT who gave him contractual details, such as the bill of quantity (BoQ), a document that details the basis for payments and the scope of work.
“I was suggesting every month they pay R12,500. It’s just three months (project). It’s nothing. If we negotiate let’s start on that one [R12,500].......The R12,500 is for me... I don’t even want to expose your BoQ. I’ve already researched it. I got people there [TUT] and I don’t want to expose the money that you are taking here. I have my people at TUT. ... Just give me a problem and I will expose it,” said Thokwana.
Another meeting was arranged by Taruvinga’s partners with Thokwana where he was told that the company would not hire him.
Talking to Sowetan this week, Taruvinga said they had decided to reject Thokwana’s demands after he showed signs of greed.
“We flatly told him we won’t go ahead because he kept asking for more money and he had come to us as a representative of his community.
“He initially wanted R5,000 per month and then he demanded R12,000. It did not make sense to us and we knew that we were being extorted by a greedy person. We have spoken with the university to boost the security around the site,” said Taruvinga.
The hotel manager at the Manhattan Hotel has since denied Thokwana’s claims of shutting down his business and said their project had not even started. He also said he did not know Thokwana.
“We’ve had a guy called Odwa who came here wanting to know details. We then reached out to the local ward councillor for guidance. We are aware that construction mafia exists in Tshwane and we are concerned about our project because it’s last for a year,” said the manager.
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