The Minister of Public Works, Dean MacPherson, warned about the sophisticated methods employed by the construction mafia in South Africa, which have led to the disruption of infrastructure projects valued at over 63 billion rand.
2The Minister of Public Works, Dean MacPherson, warned about the sophisticated methods employed by the construction mafia in South Africa, which have led to the disruption of infrastructure projects valued at over 63 billion rand.
2He noted that these groups demonstrate a high degree of sophistication and often possess political connections. They learn to infiltrate not only through open violence but also through subcontracting agreements, local participation structures, security contracts, the use of shell companies, and self-proclaimed community representatives.
The launch of the National Framework for Construction Environment and Safety was an important step toward strengthening accountability and collaboration in the construction sector. MacPherson emphasized that the new Integrated Social Facilitation Framework (ISFF) aims to combat organized crime and protect critical construction works.
ISFF is a mandatory national policy that requires government departments, municipalities, and state-owned enterprises to engage with local communities before construction work begins. The so-called construction mafia consists of organized groups that invade construction sites, demanding money, jobs, or subcontracts under the guise of local participation, often using intimidation and violence.
According to MacPherson, this framework, which took nearly two years to develop, is designed to prevent these groups from exploiting public frustration to sabotage projects. He thanked the Cabinet for approving ISFF as a mandatory national policy tool, marking the transition from policy development to official governmental implementation.
MacPherson reported that the construction mafia has become one of the first and most obvious threats to infrastructure implementation since he took office in July 2024. What started in KwaZulu-Natal has spread to most provinces. He stated that South Africa cannot become a construction site if it is run by criminals.
Projects were halted, workers were intimidated, in some cases subjected to brutal attacks, equipment was damaged or stolen, and companies were forced to pay money or hand over work to individuals without legal rights. These syndicates increased state expenditure, deterred investment, and threatened the lives of workers, project managers, and company owners. He recalled a horrific incident where a senior manager in Durban was shot six times on a site but miraculously survived.
MacPherson pointed to the incident on the uMkhomazi water project in KwaZulu-Natal as a turning point. This multi-billion rand project, one of the country's largest water infrastructure schemes, involves building a dam on the uMkhomazi River to supply water to Durban and its surroundings. The incident involving the construction mafia there resulted in three deaths and an attack on another individual.
This case convinced him that this was not merely an issue of procurement problems, public protests, or labor disputes, but rather organized crime requiring a coordinated national response. The old approach had failed because disruptions were treated as isolated incidents: a contractor would report a problem, the municipality would try to negotiate, the police would file a case, but nothing would happen, and the networks behind the disruptions would continue operating.
This prompted him and the MEC for Public Works in KwaZulu-Natal, Martin Meyer, to hold a national summit on the activities of the construction mafia in Durban in November 2024. The summit led to the adoption of the Durban Declaration, which obligated the government, law enforcement agencies, the National Treasury, regulators, state-owned enterprises, and the construction industry to adopt a unified, coordinated national response. MacPherson called this declaration 'our line of defense.'
Since the declaration was signed, measurable progress has been made: over 770 extortion and intimidation cases related to construction have been registered, resulting in 241 arrests and 176 convictions. In KwaZulu-Natal, the historical center of mafia activity, monthly site disruptions have decreased from over 60 to less than 10.
Furthermore, efforts to manage consequences have been intensified: as of September 2025, 52 contractors have been blacklisted, and another batch is under review. MacPherson warned that the government has not declared victory yet, pointing to recent disruptions in Gauteng, including Randfontein in the West Rand and the Vaal region south of Johannesburg. However, these incidents were escalated through the provincial priority crime committee, and the sites stabilized without prolonged stoppages.
He warned that the syndicates are finding new ways to penetrate projects. Criminals now have their own shell companies posing as contractors, manipulating community structures and influencing subcontracting opportunities. They are still trying to make state infrastructure serve criminal interests rather than public ones.
ISFF standardizes community engagement at national, provincial, and local levels, as well as within state-owned enterprises. Communities must be informed about what is being built, why it is being built, what opportunities exist for them, and how they can legally express their concerns. The framework will operate throughout the entire project lifecycle, from planning to completion.
He will also establish project liaison committees as formal platforms for communication and conflict resolution, requiring continuous monitoring and reporting for early risk detection. MacPherson stressed that this means communities should no longer be involved only after a conflict begins, but should be engaged before the project starts.
He noted that previous community engagement was inconsistent and fragmented, sometimes amounting to mere formality or left to the discretion of unqualified intermediaries. In such cases, self-proclaimed public relations staff filled this void, claiming to represent community interests without any accountability, standards, or ethical obligations. This vacuum was exploited by extortionists, and the framework is designed to close it.
A central element of the reform is the professionalization of social facilitation, led by the South African Council for Project Management and Construction in conjunction with the Department and the Construction Environment Council. In the future, social facilitators must be qualified, registered, and bound by a code of ethics. MacPherson stated that they must act as a bridge between the community, not as gatekeepers.
Implementation will prioritize high-risk projects where conflicts, extortion, and vandalism are most prevalent. He clarified that the framework does not replace law enforcement but strengthens it. If legitimate concerns arise from the community, engagement will take place, and legitimate requests from local businesses for participation will be fulfilled. But if criminals invade sites, threaten workers, demand money, or attempt to manipulate outcomes or vandalize infrastructure, they will be arrested.
He concluded with a warning to the syndicates: 'You cannot negotiate with extortionists or criminals. There will be no compromises with them. And there will be no future for the construction industry where implementation depends on paying bribes for protection.'
Major telecommunications operators in South Africa are preparing for public hearings in Midrand on Monday and Tuesday. They have expressed near-unanimous criticism of the regulator Icasa's draft rules, which aim to accelerate broadband deployment, but the operators warn that they could lead to the opposite result.
The draft rules, published on April 10, aim to create a unified system for network deployment covering permits, land access, compensation, and dispute resolution. However, in written submissions posted on the Icasa website, there is a complaint: the rules regulate licensees who want to build but ignore the municipal permitting bottleneck (wayleave bottleneck), which is actually slowing down the deployment process.
The Association of Communications and Technology (ACT), representing six major operators, considers the lack of mandatory response times from municipalities and a presumed approval mechanism as the 'most significant gap' in the draft, calling it 'the main systemic failure that the regulatory framework was supposed to eliminate.' In its document, signed by ACT CEO Nomvuso Bathi, it is pointed out that operators spend six to twelve months connecting corporate clients in some metropolises, with wayleave costs ranging from R8,000 to hundreds of thousands of rand, including 'arbitrary annual maintenance fees for services not provided.'
Vodacom makes a similar accusation, arguing that the draft 'imposes increased procedural, reporting, and compliance obligations on licensees while the core problems remain largely unresolved.' The Internet Service Providers' Association (Ispa) believes that the new rules 'will rather slow down deployment by imposing additional obligations on licensees.'
Both ACT and Vodacom propose adopting the model used in the EU under the Gigabit Infrastructure Act: mandatory four-month permit acquisition timelines and automatic approval if authorities fail to comply. ACT also insists on importing the principle of price capping for fees from the EU, as well as a 30 working day wayleave standard.
The submitted documents confirm early industry warnings regarding the national infrastructure base, reported by TechCentral in April. Regulation 7 requires every licensee to provide geo-referenced GIS data on fiber optic routes, ducts, poles, towers, and base stations, as well as service availability data at the address level and, most controversially, future deployment plans, under threat of a fine of up to R1 million.
Telkom's submission, signed by Head of Legal and Regulatory Affairs Nozifo Mngomezulu, warns that this database 'compromises the security of the Telkom network if it is made publicly available, as mafia-related construction, anarchists, and spies could misuse it.'
ACT raises national security concerns, citing Icasa's own reports on infrastructure theft and vandalism. Ispa states that it is 'unreasonable to expect licensees to provide commercially sensitive information' without knowing who will have access to it and under what guarantees. Furthermore, Ispa argues that GIS mapping falls entirely outside Section 21 of the Electronic Communications Act and should be considered in a separate document.
The complaint is almost universal: the draft rules do not specify who has the right to access the data, for what purposes, or with what protections. The six-month implementation period is criticized as unrealistic—Telkom calls it 'absolutely unrealistic,' and ACT demands an extension to 12 months—while the R1 million fine is condemned as disproportionate.
Telkom goes further regarding the process, arguing that the rules should be suspended entirely. The company pointed to the Bill amending the Communications Act—whose proposed Section 21A would grant the Minister of Co-operative Governance the power to impose mandatory rules on municipalities—as well as the Minister of Communications Solly Malatsi's fast deployment policy draft, published in March and still unresolved. Telkom believes that finalizing Icasa's rules before these processes are complete risks cementing a system aimed in the wrong direction: Icasa's jurisdiction extends to licensees, not to the municipalities where the real friction lies. According to Telkom, standard co-management wayleave provisions were adopted by only four of the municipalities published in 2023.
ACT questions why Icasa published the draft before the completion of the ministerial policy process, warning of a 'regulatory divergence,' while Ispa demands that Icasa publicly state how the political direction will affect completion.
Not all aspects are disputed. ACT considers the concept of GIS mapping 'significant and commendable' in principle, Ispa members support broadband mapping, and structured dispute resolution and infrastructure lifecycle rules enjoy broad support. The main debate revolves around the sequence of actions and protective measures.
Vodacom argues that the database should only be developed after solving the bottleneck in approval processes, and compensation to landowners should be limited to proven loss, not recurring 'lease-type' payments. Telkom insists that trench sharing and joint construction agreements remain voluntary, warning against 'rent-seeking behaviour' by parties holding wayleave rights.
Oral hearings will take place at the Protea Hotel Marriott in Midrand.
Wendy University has faced accusations of serious management failures, brought to light by a whistleblower's dossier supported by internal university documents analyzed by IOL. The allegations concern a large construction project whose cost has risen from the approved 64 million rand to a projected 163.2 million rand. Furthermore, claims have been made regarding irregular appointments, conflicts of interest, and the concentration of decision-making power among a small group of senior officials and external consultants. Documents examined by IOL confirm key aspects of the whistleblower's claims about failures in management, procurement control, and financial oversight. These allegations were outlined in an anonymous letter sent in April 2026 to the Minister of Higher Education and the Chairman of the University Council.
