A quiet and devastating crisis is gripping Gauteng, affecting the region’s infrastructure projects and threatening service delivery in various communities.
Clinics, schools, housing efforts, and other critical services are being hijacked by groups called “construction mafias”. This is not just a nuisance; it is an attack on residents’ rights to essential services and safety.
These groups pose as “business forums”, claiming to support local economic causes. Yet beneath this image lurks a network of violence, bullying, and extortion.
Their methods include armed takeover of construction sites, menacing contractors, and demanding a 30% stake of the project value for so-called empowerment purposes.
In recent years, more than R2.5bn worth of construction projects in Gauteng never reached completion or suffered major setbacks because of their actions.
The consequences are dire – unfinished schools leave children crammed in dilapidated classrooms; incomplete clinics force communities to rely on under-resourced facilities; halted housing projects deny families the dignity of a home.
The victims are not only the contractors who face bankruptcy or workers who lose their jobs. The true victims are Gauteng residents that are left without access to the essential infrastructure they desperately need.
For far too long, construction mafias have operated with near impunity. Law enforcement is slow to react, government departments are hesitant to confront violent disruptions, and communities are often left in the dark about what is happening on their doorsteps.
The silence creates fertile ground for these groups to thrive. Contractors often give in to extortion simply to keep projects moving and themselves in business, further fuelling the cycle of criminality.
The Gauteng department of infrastructure development is working closely with law enforcement agencies and anti-corruption stakeholders to fight this crime.
This collaboration is helping to clamp down on-site invasions by sharing intelligence, tightening security on vulnerable projects, and ensuring criminal cases do not disappear into bureaucratic red tape.
These groups exploit the 30% subcontracting clause, a national policy that was originally designed to uplift local SMMEs by ensuring they benefit from major construction projects. This clause has now been hijacked and become a loophole for intimidation and extortion.
The department has acknowledged the need for procurement reform. Stricter rules, more transparent vetting processes, and improved monitoring will be essential to ensure that the 30% policy fulfils its original purpose of creating real opportunities for local businesses.
The fight against construction mafias must include communities themselves. Residents must report criminal interference.
Transparency is the mafia’s greatest enemy. When communities understand who is disrupting projects, they are better able to resist manipulation and protect what is theirs.
Construction projects are meant to serve communities first. That sense of ownership must extend to protecting them. If people stay silent, mafias will continue to operate unchecked.
The cost of inaction is too high. Gauteng cannot afford to allow criminals masquerading as business forums to rob residents of their future.
The damage caused by construction mafias is too deep, too expensive, and too dangerous to ignore. We must all stand behind the government’s efforts and demand accountability, urgency, and transparency.
Business leaders must resist paying into extortion rackets. Policymakers must strengthen laws and close loopholes. Residents must speak out.
If we rise together as government, communities, and civil society, we can protect the infrastructure that binds our communities.
- Sethabela is a communicator at the Gauteng department of infrastructure development
