By Larry Claasen
THE emergence of extortion rackets, commonly called the “construction mafia”, over the past few years has become a real threat to not only the sector but also the economy.
“It is as big a danger to our sector as criminal activity, and in particular, extortion has been for many years now across many sectors throughout the country, not only the property development and construction industry: any mafia can derail an industry,” says Deon van Zyl, chairperson of the Western Cape Property Development Forum (WCPDF).
He warns that if this kind of extortion goes unchecked, it could have far-reaching implications for society as a whole.
“While the biggest danger is to the economy, it’s patently a danger to law and order and, of course, to service delivery.”
This can already be seen in the City of Cape Town, which halted the R400-million expansion of its MyCiTi bus service into Mitchells Plain in February 2024 following extortion threats to contractors.
Build community relations
Van Zyl notes that the rise of this kind of extortion stems in part from the sluggish economy.
“The only way to truly address criminal activity of this nature is through economic growth and job creation. If we can see – and believe in – economic growth, the criminal activity will certainly start to dilute.”
Though the weak economy has contributed to the rise in extortion, van Zyl says property developers can mitigate its impact by getting the buy-in of local business forums ahead of time.
“The most important and first thing that needs to happen is we must have community engagement from the start of projects. We must create awareness within communities as to why projects are happening, how they can benefit their community, and how service delivery to them can be impacted if disruptions occur on sites.”
“We need to give them information. A community that believes in a project will stand up for that project,” he adds.
Van Zyl notes a difference between forum business groups and actual criminal activity. Though both may cause disruption on sites, business forums often want community engagement, which can be achieved if they are invovled from the very start of a project.
“It’s actually disrespectful not to engage with a community before any work begins in their area, and this could be effectively achieved if such engagement begins with local stakeholders.”
Report the case
Aside from working with the community, van Zyl also calls on developers to report disruptions on-site, particularly criminal activity, so that those behind it can be identified and dealt with in terms of the law.
Reporting these disruptions will enable the authorities to better coordinate their efforts to combat this type of extortion.
The weak economy
But even if developers start working more closely with communities and report disruptions, van Zyl warns that stagnant economic growth will continue to foster extortion.
“As the WCPDF, we’ve warned for years the economic growth and the support of a key industry such as ours, which delivers the infrastructure and builds the spaces in which economic activity takes place, is critical. The chickens are coming home now to roost.”
