Crackdown on construction extortion ‘long overdue’

Regional Manager Andile Zondi, who is with the SA Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors, says small businesses have been under attack for as long as four years.

"The reality of it is that the majority of the incidents happen to the smaller contractors who don't have the resources to deal with these issues."

He was speaking at the National Construction Summit in Durban on Tuesday.

Public Works and Infrastructure, Police, and National Treasury representatives signed a declaration to end crime at construction sites.

READ: Macpherson: Construction mafias a threat to investment

The declaration includes pledges to improve law and order and support skills development among emerging entities [strengthen legislation and policy, boost collaboration among stakeholders, and establish guidelines for project planning].

Meanwhile, Deputy Public Works Minister Sihle Zikalala made an appeal to engineers.

He said there's a need to assess the quality of work on various construction projects to prevent infrastructure collapses.

Zikala referenced the deaths of four workers when a bank collapsed in Ballito earlier this year.