Construction mafia and lack of financing are the cause of the slow pace of infrastructure delivery

Construction mafias target infrastructure projects, companies and construction sites across the country by extorting money from contractors.

Last month, Minister of Works and Infrastructure Dean Macpherson announced plans to develop a concrete solution to tackle the growing phenomenon of the construction mafia.

On Tuesday, Zikalala briefed the NCOP at a ministerial meeting on the challenges facing infrastructure delivery to communities.

“In South Africa, we understand that the current challenges in infrastructure are financial constraints, stalled projects, criminality (interpreted by others as construction mafia) and the infrastructure gap that can hamper even the promise of new developments,” Zikalala told MPs.

“Another issue is funding and budget constraints. This is related to limited resources, which have been shown to hamper planning and execution of projects, leading to delays and incomplete work. This is largely caused by declining fiscal resources and reduced budget allocation.

According to Zikalala, the responsibility lies with law enforcement agencies to develop better strategies to tackle corruption in the sector.

“Builders defaulting is one of the biggest challenges we face. Although it is not a uniquely South African problem but an international challenge for the construction environment, it has major implications for our development. We are on a campaign to eradicate shadow and corrupt contractors from within our system.

“There are many contractors who win government contracts by simply underbidding or underbidding. Corruption in government procurement is a major problem, and it is sophisticated and therefore requires a dedicated approach,” he added.

Minister of Human Settlements Mmamoloko Kubayi and Minister of Transport Barbara Creecy shared Zikalala’s concerns and said they face similar challenges.

“Disruption by communities, who want to determine who gets the project and who doesn’t…who should be hired and who shouldn’t. All of this would lead to higher costs and delays,” Kubayi said.

“Cost increase, something we noticed after COVID-19 and the unrest in July. Many prices for materials went up and therefore it was no longer feasible for contractors to carry out projects.”

Creecy added that “there are challenges including theft and vandalism of infrastructure, disruption from the so-called business forums. There is also capacity in terms of the industry to deliver these programs.”

READ ALSO: