Legislators have told the government and law enforcement to get their act together and address the construction mafia and extortion syndicates that have halted several housing developments across Cape Town.
Also read: Extortionists leave thousands of housing project beneficiaries in the lurch
Presentations were tabled before the standing committee painted a bleak picture of gangs taking over state affairs, saying that both local and provincial governments need to craft a plan to find a solution to ongoing challenges.
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 were among those who addressed the committee.
Police in particular came under fire from the committee due to their self-confessed abysmal arrest rate in extortion and criminality cases involving the so-called construction mafia.
According to the provincial head of detectives, Makhaya Mkabile, only 14 cases of extortion-related crime in the housing construction sector had been reported to the police in the last five years. Of these, only five had been reported to them across all the City’s districts for the financial year 2021/2022. Only two were prosecuted.
He added that the police faced multiple challenges, including the fact that many victims of such crimes were afraid of making reports to the police and were unwilling to provide affidavits or participate in identification parades.
“What remains alarming is that the police have made very few arrests and victims do not feel safe to report incidents,” remarked Committee chairperson Matlhodi Maseko, encouraging the police intelligence unit to be reinforced immediately to regain community confidence.
“We need an intergovernmental approach involving all three spheres of government to deal decisively with this problem,” added Committee member Pat Marran of the ANC.
It also emerged during the briefing that the provincial Human Settlements Department spends R1.5 million a month to combat extortion mafias and that some local business forums were behind the threats in the case of the Philippi and Mfuleni projects. Attempts by local subcontractors to muscle in were also alleged to be behind some of the disruptions.
“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,” said GOOD Party MPL Shaun August. “This is a worrisome figure and requires urgent intervention from all three spheres of government.”
According to Mayco member for human settlements Malusi Booi, 12 of the City’s housing projects had been impacted by threats of extortion, unlawful occupation or forceful community disruption of housing units, while about 4,500 state-subsidised housing beneficiaries had been affected.
He added that these threats had 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.
Also read:
Mayor calls for clampdown on extortionists blocking housing projects
Picture: Cape{town}Etc Library