Cape Town - The City of Cape Town has admitted that construction companies contracted to it have been employing Manenberg gangsters.
Extreme gang violence in the area has threatened the completion of building projects there, with complaints revealing the stronghold gangs have on building.
A file of documents in the possession of the City of Cape Town, shown to Weekend Argus, details how gangsters allegedly threatened the lives of builders and security staff, shot at them and assaulted them.
One document tells how about 130 gang members allegedly stormed a temporary accommodation area while residents were being relocated. It says elderly people “literally wet themselves in fear of being shot”, and that one of the company’s administration staff “had a nervous breakdown and become inconsolable”.
Construction and security companies in Manenberg recently came under scrutiny after a police investigation found a building sub-contractor for the city had hired a security company run by an alleged Hard Livings gang boss.
This company is alleged to have employed gangsters as security guards.
It has since emerged that the security company was not registered with the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority, as required by law, and should not have been allowed to operate in the first place.
Construction companies have been working in Manenberg since 2008 to upgrade council flats, and the process has involved relocating some residents to temporary accommodation.
The upgrading operations are set to continue in Manenberg until next month and under heavy security, not provided by the unregistered company.
After first saying it was not clear whether gang members were hired by contractors, the city this week confirmed to Weekend Argus that it appeared gangsters were employed.
“The contractors have advised that some of the local labour appear to have gang affiliations. This is a major concern given the current gang conflict taking place in Manenberg,” said mayoral committee member for human settlements, Benedicta van Minnen.
This week Manenberg residents told Weekend Argus Hard Livings gangsters had threatened to start shooting after apparently being forced off construction sites on Monday.
Van Minnen said the city had been told about the contractors’ actions against local workers employed from the city’s subcouncil job seeker database, aimed at temporarily employing residents in a specific area.
Those registered on the database are eligible for jobs as part of the national Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP).
“Any gang affiliations that may be associated with the EPWP... are coincidental since no specific process is undertaken to check for person/s with criminal records or gang affiliations, and neither is there such a condition in terms of EPWP requirements,” Van Minnen said.
She said ongoing gang violence in Manenberg had repeatedly halted construction work, and that it had taken “a near superhuman effort” to keep the project going.
The file of documents detailing gang incidents outlined the extent of the violence.
Mayoral committee member for safety and security JP Smith confirmed that the city handed a copy of the file to police about a month ago. But he said it was believed the police already had the information in question.
The attacks on construction workers and security guards detailed in the documents cover the period from September last year to the first week of January, and were made by members of a construction company the name of which is being withheld as workers are still operating in the area, and naming the company could jeopardise their safety.
One of the first complaints, dated September 8 last year, said a construction team was threatened by armed gangsters to hand over R10 000 “or face the consequences”.
On October 1 and 6, teams had to leave construction sites because of gang violence, which peaked on October 22.
This was when about 100 gangsters stormed a site.
A complaint on November 6 said construction staff were threatened while they were relocating residents. They were told that bullets would rain down on them if they continued the process.
Four days later another complaint said construction staff were “threatened that their lives will be lost”.
On November 21 a construction team was shot at.
Six days later another complaint said: “More than 19 incidents of grievous bodily harm occurred. Security locked up in containers and beaten up… Total of 43 staff assaulted to date.”
On December 2 a complaint said a gang faction “pillaged” a site.
“Security targeted by a specific gang faction, whereby one security guard in a coma, two security guards stabbed with knife, eight security guards beaten up very badly,” a January 12 complaint said.
In mid-March a subcouncil resolution, available on the city’s official website, said “an unprecedented upsurge in violence” near the units being upgraded saw work halted for four months in October.
“The block of flats were soon after vacating overwhelmed by armed thugs and vandalised to the core even though guarded in accordance with the building contract requirements,” it said.
The resolution said meetings involving police were held, and additional funding approved for more security.
This week Raziek Rajah, the director of Good Hope Construction, one of the sub-contractors operating in Manenberg, confirmed the city and the provincial government had provided extra security.
“Had it not been for the additional security, I don’t think we’d be able to complete these units. We’re doing our best to complete within the agreed upon timeframe. The area is quite volatile,” he said.
Good Hope Construction had aimed to complete the upgrade by the middle of this month, but the deadline was moved to next month when cable was stolen in a gang-related incident, slowing operations.
Jacques de Ridder, a general manager at Haws and Inglis, the second sub-contractor operating in Manenberg, declined to say anything other than that their project had been successfully completed.
Weekend Argus