What is to be made of recent reports that the KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Public Works, Sipho Nkosi, planned to meet with groups dubbed the ‘Construction Mafia’ who had derailed and delayed billions of rands worth of building and infrastructure projects across the province?
I struggled to find any rational explanations, or grounds for negotiation or discussion, because these formations had proven by their actions that the addition of value to projects, or furthering the development of their communities was furthest from their minds. This is borne out by the fact that these groups traverse the province looking for projects to extract personal benefit from.
Their modus-operandi of intimidation, beatings, gun toting and burning of equipment hardly creates a conducive environment to fruitful negotiations of any form.
Their actions are clearly distinguishable from legitimate groups that pursue objectives of local procurement of goods and services and skills and enterprise development for local artisans and service providers, objectives that should be supported and promoted by government.
Alas, my experience is that government procurement at all levels pays nothing but lip service to these legislated prescripts around skills development, such as the Emerging Contractors Programmes, and the infamous 30% local procurement directive.
Due to sheer incompetence, laziness or corruption, or combinations of all three, it is not uncommon to find contractors from outside a district or local municipality parachuted into provincial or national government projects within them.
No effort is made to enforce skills development or local purchasing prescripts.
Discussion of any sort that is not underpinned by ‘formations’ clearly articulating their bona-fides would be fruitless.
Anything short of this would be legitimising the ‘mafia’ moniker, something we cannot least afford, as we teeter on the brink of being internationally labelled as a gangster state, perceptions not helped by the limp wristed reaction of the state security apparatus for something that has been a good few years in the making.
Vijay Naidoo is the CEO of the Port Shepstone Business Forum. He writes in his personal capacity. The views expressed are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication
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