Authorities turn a deaf ear to construction mafia

Protection fees and the construction mafia are not new in South Africa. The authorities just pretend they didn’t know about it.

They knew that illegal migrants had been paying bribes to greedy members of the Saps on the streets of Johannesburg and the surrounding area for years.

The criminals had learned the trick from the police.

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They harass foreigners and ask for bribes if anyone is found not having the required documents to reside in South Africa.

The victims are mostly unemployed young men who sit on the side of the road in most suburbs and shopping malls, looking for work in painting, masonry, gardening, plumbing and even some electrical maintenance.

Unscrupulous police officers often raid the sites and demand a protection fee, ranging from R20 to R200, with the most common fee being R50.

They are ‘protected’ from persecution for being in the country illegally without papers and to avoid being sent away pending deportation to their country of origin.

Asking for protection money is not limited to the police, but also to criminals all over the country. We read numerous reports of how residents of Mthatha and surrounding villages in the Eastern Cape live in fear of being attacked by criminals demanding protection money.

In many cases, residents took revenge on the attackers, demanding compensation from residents and motorists for the maintenance of your home, your business, your car, your animals and even your family.

This is regardless of whether you want to be protected or not. The spaza shops of Pakistanis and Ethiopians are also targeted.

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Crime in the eastern part, formerly known as Transkei, spread from the Western Cape, where Transkei had supplied most of its migrant workers for generations.

Those fleeing the long arm of the law in the Cape return to their rural homes in the Eastern Cape to continue their evil deeds in the villages.

When I recently visited Cape Town I was warned never to visit the townships, especially Khayelitsha, where this problem has gotten out of hand.

There, residents are charged protection fees for walking on the streets and school children pay thugs who hang around outside the school. Refusing is an invitation to be shot.

Recently, a teacher was shot dead in Khayelitsha after taking her children to school because she had no money to pay the criminals.

An Uber driver showed me a spot in Elsie’s River, a black neighborhood, where a group of foreign tourists were mugged after their car tire went flat.

They were robbed of their mobile phones, jewellery, cameras and other expensive items. A tourist was robbed of his new designer clothes and tracksuit.

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There is no essential difference between the individual criminals who demand protection money from residents and the members of the construction mafia.

The principle is the same, except that in the construction sector the violence is on a massive scale and millions of rands are demanded from companies doing business.

The usual fee is 30% of revenue, which has forced many small businesses to close their doors because they can’t afford the fee.

It is astonishing that those who have ruled this country for the past 30 years are only now becoming aware of this problem.

Why do they pretend not to be aware of it?

Perhaps the government of national unity is a blessing, because it has given us ministers who are members of the opposition parties and who have no interest in this crime.

They are not willing to give in to criminals – and that is exactly what a government should do.