Cape Town – Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Sihle Zikalala says his department will be meeting with the police’s Economic Sabotage Unit to deal with the rising phenomena of ‘construction Mafia’.
In a statement on the progress in implementing the National Infrastructure Investment Plan on Tuesday, Zikalala said everyone was allowed to partake in economic activity in the country but it should be done in a legal and orderly fashion.
“We will be meeting with the Economic Sabotage Unit set up within the police to deal with economic crimes including the rising phenomena of so called construction Mafia who invade, intimidate and disrupt delivery of projects on the ground,” Zikalala said.
“We will continue to engage communities on how they can benefit from construction projects and the entire value chain. Equally, we will mobilise communities to work with law enforcement to fight corruption, crime, and the construction Mafia who are sabotaging the delivery of infrastructure and hampering job creation.”
Zikalala also said the department is a target of unscrupulous service providers who at times fleece the department through shoddy workmanship, project stoppages claiming liquidation of companies, poor contractor performance and many other issues that impact negatively on their performance, delivery of services to the client departments and to the community.
“We are putting interventions in place to remove the stigma that this department is a treasure nest of all sorts of things, including corruption. We are setting new standards to inform Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with leased buildings especially focused on maintenance and smart facilities.
“Going forward, we will account on all our planned infrastructure projects, introduce early warning systems and respond timeously to project blockages,” Zikalala said.
Cape Times