KASHIF WICOMB: Construction mafias and protection rackets threaten to stifle the economy

One of the biggest threats to SA’s economic stability, viability and infrastructure development is the untold destruction caused by the so-called construction mafias and protection rackets.

A serious study needs to be commissioned on how the state’s commitment to implementing economic policy reforms aimed at stimulating economic growth, boosting competitiveness and attracting investment following the Covid-19 pandemic is going to be realised in an environment where so-called construction mafias call the shots.

At the first meeting the “forum” placed a bullet on the boardroom table and started making demands, including that a “community liaison officer” be appointed from the ranks of the “forum”. This was ostensibly to give the community insight into the operations and to secure procurement from its selected companies.

JSE-listed company recently decried how a R5bn project that would have created thousands of jobs was “torpedoed” because the foreign shareholders “ran for the hills” when invaders pitched up on site. The index measures several procedures, times and costs. It also sketches the prolonged process to secure construction permits; time and cost to get connected to the electrical grid; the reliability of the electricity supply and the transparency of tariffs. Clearly, if we want a competitive economy that can position itself as a prime investment destination we cannot afford to add more layers of red tape, uncertainty, chaos and violence.

If this trend is not nipped in the bid it will soon be impossible to conduct any business without obtaining and paying for permission from a protection racket. L

ermbates We do as our leaders do 🤷‍♀️

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