‘Mafias’ delaying housing
Criminal elements intimidate, extort construction companies
CRIMINAL elements disguised as community development forums are blackmailing, intimidating and extorting money from construction companies building houses and infrastructure in townships. These tactics have led to month-long delays in the completion of projects.
Similar rackets in Pretoria are referred to as “construction mafias” and have affected projects in Arcadia, Menlo Park and Brooklyn.
“It’s a trend which started in Pretoria and now it’s slowly making its way to Cape Town and we have every reason to be concerned about this,” said Garden Cities chief executive, John Matthews. Matthews said their housing developments had been similarly affected in Cape Town.
“The challenge comes from the community and it spills over to the developers, and it has a massive effect on the service delivery,” he said.
Matthews is currently developing 1 700 low-income houses in Greenville in Durbanville. The longest period the project was stalled was four months.
“The community often does not understand why we are there so they vent their frustration in a certain manner,” Matthews said. He said a stalled project could lead to losses of millions of rand.
“Anything that slows down costs money. It costs around R1 million a day if you lose out. It’s a Catch-22: you spend time dealing with labour issues and it’s frustrating because other projects are neglected and the community does not allow work to continue,” he said.
The Stock Road infrastructure project in Philippi, which is part of the roll-out of Phase 2A of the MyCiTi bus service to the Cape Flats, came to a standstill three weeks ago.
The contractor has not been permitted to return to the site to complete the last bit of work, and the company has been pressured to agree to the so-called development forum’s demands for a “legacy”. WITH the hopes of a continent on their shoulders, Senegal were eliminated from the World Cup in the Samara Arena yesterday after losing 1-0 to Colombia.
But Africa’s last hopes did not diminish based on goals scored and points attained – it was due to an inferior disciplinary record over the three games of the first round.
Colombia topped Group H, with Senegal and Japan tied on four points. But, with only one of those two sides to proceed to the last 16 along with the Colombians, Japan got the nod on the basis that their players had collected only four yellow cards in three matches, as opposed to the six of the Senegalese.
So, another World Cup and another African failure. This year’s performance weakens African football’s claim for greater representation at the tournament, which will next be held in Qatar in 2022.
Senegal’s elimination ensured all five of CAF’s representatives at the tournament were eliminated at the group stage.
It is the first time since Cameroon reached the quarter-finals in 1990 that Africa has failed to have a team in the knock-out phase.
The Lions of Teranga, who beat Poland 2-1 and drew 2-2 with Japan, were Africa’s shining beacon and everyone’s favourite to carry the continent’s flag.
All they needed to achieve yesterday was to hold the Colombians to a draw and would have progressed to the last 16.
But the 2002 World Cup quarter-finalists failed to seal the deal, with the Senegalese allowing Yerra Mina to head in a corner kick unchallenged on 74 minutes.
There was still enough time for Alilou Cisse’s men to snatch the equaliser that would have seen them progress. But, as with the other four nations at the tournament, the match petered out to an unflattering end. They just did not have that killer instinct in front of goal.
That, coupled with a failure to maintain their shape in defence and concentrate for the entire match – a downfall of Africa’s representatives, with Nigeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt having failed to make the knock-out stage. – Sports Reporter
“I am aware of this and we remain deeply concerned by these types of actions by the community,” said ward councillor Siphiwo Nqamnduku.
Mayco member for transport and urban development Brett Herron said the communities affected by this lose out.
“They either lose the employment opportunities provided for by the local labour requirement in the contract or smaller local businesses lose the subcontracting opportunities,” he said.
A similar case is being played out in Bo-Kaap. Earlier this week residents attempted to halt a crane from Blok Developers from constructing a 12-storey building in Lions Street.
“We are shocked and deeply concerned by the violent turn the protests in the Bo-Kaap have taken over past few weeks. These incidents have endangered the safety of the people working on our site, neighbouring homes and schools such as St Paul’s Primary and Vista High,” said Blok Developers spokesperson Colin Wardle.
Wardle said the recent attacks at several other developments in the area had led to hospitalisation of site personnel and millions of rand in damages.
“In response we have been forced to increase our site security to ensure the safety of our staff and neighbours.
“We have been and will continue engaging stakeholders in the community, despite some obstruction, and work with local authorities, and hope that this matter is resolved,” he said.