DPWI Minister welcomes initiative to deal with the construction mafia

Public Works and Infrastructure Minister, Dean Macpherson has welcomed the announcement by the City of Cape Town and others to join forces to address the growing occurrence of the so-called construction mafia at developmental projects. 'From my very first day in office, I have been clear that the South African government would not be negotiating with criminals such as the construction mafia, but would rather work with all role-players to address this scourge in our communities to safeguard our infrastructure projects. 'I therefore welcome the joint effort by the private and public sectors in Cape Town and look forward to similar actions being replicated nationwide,' said the Minister. This as the city, Atterbury and Old Mutual and other players made a joint announcement to join forces to fight the scourge at developmental projects. 'To eradicate the rise of lawlessness at construction sites across the country, it will require that we all work together, and make use of new and innovatory approaches to figh t crime. 'The construction sector should be playing a bigger and more important role in growing our country's economy. This is only possible if we ensure our sites are safe and public and private sector investments are secure from lawlessness and extortion,' he said in a statement on Monday. The Minister said he looks forward to meeting with both the City of Cape Town's Mayor, Geordin Hill-Lewis and eThekwini Municipality Mayor, Cyril Xaba later in August to discuss how the national and local government can work together to address the construction mafia after he met with the City of Tshwane Mayor at the end July. 'By working together, we will be able to turn the tide against the construction mafia in South Africa to ensure that they no longer operate with impunity. I look forward to working with the South African Police Service and the South African Revenue Service to further identify these criminals and expedite accountability.' 'It is imperative that to grow the economy and to create jobs, we turn Sout h Africa into a construction site, which can only take place if we break the back of the construction mafia. 'The private-public partnership announced in Cape Town will play a big role in achieving this goal and should be a model we look to replicate across the country. Let us build South Africa,' the Minister said. Source : South African Government News Agency