Construction mafia in Nelson Mandela Bay have held up the multimillion-rand R335 road construction project from Motherwell to Addo, demanding R450,000 a month in protection fees.
This was revealed by Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane during his state of the province address in Ntabankulu on Thursday.
The road is a vital citrus export route from the Sundays River Valley Municipality to the city’s two ports.
Mabuyane highlighted several road construction projects under way in the province that ran into billions of rand.
“In Nelson Mandela Bay, we are building roads worth R1.4bn which includes the R335 Motherwell to Addo Phase 1 Road,” Mabuyane said.
“The Eastern Cape is a construction site, no-one can dispute that fact.”
Deviating from his written speech, Mabuyane said he had received disturbing news from transport and community safety MEC Xolile Nqatha before Thursday’s proceedings.
“In Nelson Mandela Bay there are 60 wards, but there are those who have built their own ward which is Ward 61 and it is not demarcated.
“They are going about threatening contractors doing work for government projects.
“They go to government projects, walk up to contractors and demand R400,000 from them every month as a protection fee.
“These are people sitting in townships, people who don’t work, thugs.
“No government project is going to come to a standstill being stopped by criminals.”
Mabuyane urged the police to make arrests.
“We have had enough.
“Our people are being threatened and abused by individuals who have no regard for human life.
“Enough is enough,” he said.
The R335 road project is valued at R874m, with the estimated completion date being March 2027.
According to the SA National Roads Agency (Sanral), the scope of work includes upgrading the urban section in Motherwell to a four-lane dual carriageway, divided by a median from Maku Street to the R334 Kariega junction.
The lane width will be increased from 6m to 12m.
Single traffic lanes in both directions will be widened by three metres and a shoulder lane added.
The speed limit of 80km/h will be increased to 120km/h.
The road connects Motherwell to the citrus towns of Addo and Kirkwood in the Sundays River Valley Municipality.
It is used mainly by trucks ferrying produce to the port of Ngqura in Gqeberha.
Over the years, due to minimum maintenance, it has suffered structurally.
After Mabuyane’s speech, Nqatha confirmed that a contractor had been told to pay R450,000 in protection fees every month.
“The contractor was asked to make that payment by 11am [on Thursday] or the project would be shut down.”
Nqatha said the group approached the contractor and said the fee was to safeguard the stability of the project.
He urged the contractor not to make the payment.
“To pay is a short-term solution because if he pays today, next month it is R500,000 and the only sustainable way for security is to make arrests.
“Our goal is to defeat mafia cartels and uproot them from society,” Nqatha said.
“The contractor is quite fearful.
“I spoke to district commissioner [Major-General Vuyisile] Ncata and they are working on it.
“He’s unleashed his officers both overtly and covertly.
“We are determined to get to the bottom of it because it is only arrests that can act as a deterrent.
“It is just that people are afraid to open a case with the police.
“We need to activate crime intelligence to [root out] this behaviour.”
Anti-crime activist Yusuf Abramjee said construction mafias were a widespread problem and several areas in SA were affected.
“These gangs are trying their luck at every turn and they are dangerous.
“The police have vowed to clamp down and we need to see urgent interventions.”
Sanral regional manager Mbulelo Peterson said the agency was not aware of the incident but confirmed they had reached out to the contractor for a report.
“Once Sanral hands over a site to a contractor, thereby setting the contract in effect, contractually the safety and security on site then become the contractor’s responsibility,” Peterson said.
“Furthermore, Sanral makes provision for a safety and security budget in all its contracts to ensure a safe and secure working environment across all its projects.
“However, in instances where criminal elements threaten the safety and security of teams on Sanral sites, we advise the contractor to report such to the SA Police Service as the relevant law enforcement organ of state mandated with combating crime and protecting the public and their property.”
During his speech, Mabuyane said more than 6,000 people were now employed in road construction projects under way in the province.
“When Stats SA releases its quarterly report saying construction jobs have gone down, we don’t know the cause behind that but projects are being stalled and brought to standstills because of these mafias.
“More than 700 SMMEs are benefiting from contract packages ensuring their financial sustainability and growth.
“In the next five years, we are going to build, strengthen and improve the Eastern Cape road network with an investment of R50bn by Sanral,” he said.
In his address, Mabuyane also touched on the move to extend the R18bn rail corridor from Gauteng to the Bay, saying it was expected to create a number of jobs for the Eastern Cape.
He said talks for the planned R18bn high-capacity rail corridor between the Tshwane Special Economic Zone and the Coega Special Economic Zone were back on track.
“We are engaging the national government to develop the southern rail corridor between Gqeberha and Gauteng to facilitate the movement of goods such as cars and manganese for the export market.
“This is an R8.4bn capital investment that has the potential to generate 9,500 indirect jobs and 2,500 direct jobs for the people of the Eastern Cape,” he said.
Mabuyane said they had an undertaking that Transnet was in its final stages of ensuring the R19.2bn Ngqura Manganese Export Terminal would be built in 2025.
Nqatha welcomed the revival of interest in the rail corridor and said it had been slowed down due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It is quite welcome because transport infrastructure is important and it will go a long way in reducing road fatalities.
“Going back to rail will release the pressure exerted on road infrastructure.”
HeraldLIVE
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