Minister of Human Settlements Mmamoloko Kubayi says they have roped in law enforcement agencies to crackdown on construction mafia to allow projects to be completed.
She said they had been working with law enforcement agencies because some of the contractors left projects because of threats and violence from construction mafia.
But some of the construction companies have beefed up their security to ensure their projects were not disrupted.
Kubayi, who was part of Ministers in the Social Services cluster answering questions in Parliament on Wednesday, said this was a serious problem that needed to be dealt with.
She said there were many reasons that some of the companies left behind unfinished projects.
One of those was the issue of the construction mafia.
Police Minister Bheki Cele also said a few months ago they arrested some of the kingpins behind the construction mafia in different parts of the country.
Some of the cases were already in court, said Cele.
Kubayi said they were doing everything they could to protect construction companies involved in different projects. The security that was provided was meant to ensure that projects were not disrupted by the construction mafia.
She said they had asked law enforcement agencies to help on construction site.
“We have requested their support to ensure that those in construction are able to start and finish their projects. We have requested law enforcement agencies to protect contractors. On the issue where you are talking about politicians, I have no record to say this one specifically has been involved in construction mafia,” said Kubayi.
She said construction mafia walked into sites and contractors run away and their projects were halted.
“Some of the contractors, what they have done is to increase their operational costs to put security as part of their project plan and operations,“ said Kubayi.
The government has been raising the issue of the construction mafia for sometime.
A few weeks ago Zikalala also met various stakeholders in the construction sector to put up plans to deal with the scourge.
The disruption of projects was said to be impacting on the economy as well.
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
Politics