Cape Town - Legislators have sent the Province, the City and police a message with regard to the construction Mafia and extortion syndicates that have caused several housing developments to be halted across Cape Town – get your act together.
Presentations tabled before the committee portrayed a bleak picture of gangs taking over the affairs of the state and the standing committee said that all departments, both in local and the provincial governments, should craft one plan that brings solutions to all these challenges.
The committee heard from mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, Mayco member for Human Settlements Malusi Booi, Human Settlements MEC Tertuis Simmers, Police Oversight and Community Safety MEC Reagen Allen and deputy provincial commissioner Preston Voskuil.
The police bore the brunt of the committee’s anger with their self-confessed abysmal rate of arrests in matters of extortion and criminality by the so-called construction Mafia coming under the microscope.
Briefing the committee, provincial head of detectives Makhaya Mkabile said only 14 cases of extortion-related crime in the housing construction sector had been reported to the police in the last five years, and of these only five had been reported to them across all the City’s districts for the financial year 2021/2022.
Mkabile said only two cases in the City ended up being prosecuted. He said the police faced multiple challenges, including the fact that many victims of such crimes were fearful of making reports to the police and were unwilling to provide affidavits or to participate in identification parades.
He also said victims were afraid of entering the witness protection programme even though the division had been strengthened.
Committee chairperson Matlhodi Maseko said: “What remains alarming is that the police have made very few arrests and victims do not feel safe to report incidents.”
She urged the police intelligence unit be reinforced immediately to regain community confidence.
Committee member Pat Marran of the ANC said: “We need an intergovernmental approach involving all three spheres of government to deal decisively with this problem.”
During the briefing it emerged the provincial Human Settlements Department spends R1.5 million a month to combat extortion Mafias.
The committee heard some local business forums were behind the threats in the case of the Philippi and Mfuleni projects. In other instances, attempts by local subcontractors to muscle-in were behind disruptions.
GOOD Party MPL Shaun August said: “The Human Settlements MEC said there were 21 640 beneficiaries over the last four years who did not receive a housing opportunity due to extortionists and criminal elements.
“This is a worrisome figure and requires urgent intervention from all three spheres of government.”
Mayco member for human settlements Malusi Booi said 12 of the City’s housing projects had been impacted by threats of extortion, unlawful occupation or forceful community disruption of housing units, with about 4500 state-subsidised housing beneficiaries affected.
Booi said these threats have impacted housing projects around the City, including Delft, Eindhoven, Valhalla Park, Gugulethu, Bardale 4C in Mfuleni, Sir Lowry’s Pass Village, Sheffield Road in Philippi, and Beacon Valley in Mitchells Plain.