Government working on addressing criminality in construction sector, says Minister Kubayi

Human Settlements Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi said the rise of criminal syndicates in the construction sector was having a negative impact on the country’s economy, but the government had a plan to address the issue.

Kubayi and Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe addressed the media on Thursday on the progress of the government’s economic reconstruction and recovery plan.

She said the construction mafia made it expensive to build in South Africa, thus impeding efforts to woo foreign investors.

According to the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime, at least 183 construction projects worth R63 billion were disrupted by the construction mafia in 2019.

The following year, the South African Forum of Civil Engineering Contractors estimated losses due to disruptions at R40.7 billion nationally.

Kubayi said the government has roped in law enforcement authorities for targeted programmes to address criminality in the construction industry.

“What some of these guys do is demand 30% but they don’t want to work. Part of the work we are doing now will be able to link up with the police,” she said.

Kubayi added that the government was also on a campaign to involve communities in safeguarding construction sites.

-EWN

In other news – Trouble in paradise: Actress Natasha Thahane & Thembinkosi Lorch allegedly break up

One of our favourite Mzansi celebrity couples, Natasha Thahane, and her baby father Thembinkosi Lorch have allegedly broken up. It is rumored that Thembinkosi Lorch has deleted all of Natasha Thahane’s pictures on Instagram as well as unfollowed her.

The new parents are not new to making news surrounding their on-and-off relationship. Even in the beginning when they started dating, Learn More