Post: Busting The Construction Mafia

September 24, 2025

Busting The Construction Mafia

It’s now a familiar sight on South African building sites: a group of people posing as “local business forums” or community interest groups arrive demanding employment, contract opportunities, or cash. The group then disrupts construction activities until their demands are met.

In other instances, thugs demand that contractors pay out merely to enter a building site. The worst cases see entire projects halted, and people assaulted or even killed.

This is the work of the “construction mafia”, a diverse group of criminal syndicates and opportunists who are holding South Africa’s construction industry – and with it her development, which depends on the building of infrastructure – in an iron grip.

The problem affects many in our timber industry, with police said to offer little protection or recourse – although legal experts point out that thorough due diligence, including community consultation, before a project begins can enable companies to “get ahead of the problem.”

The Department of Public Works told the Dolphin Bay Brief, “We can confirm that slowly but surely, the tide is turning against the construction mafia,” and that 745 cases were lodged with police and 240 arrests made since a special summit last November.

Yet as things stand, the criminality is so entrenched that its costs are now being factored into many project contracts, and amount to R68 billion over the past decade, the Association of South African Quantity Surveyors (ASAQS) estimates.

“We’re the tilers”

“Construction mafias are creating a climate of fear,” said ASAQS President Mosha Senyolo to the Dolphin Bay Brief. “The ripple effect is giving rise to more opportunistic criminal behaviour. Many legitimate businesses are forced to cut jobs or scale back operations due to the financial pressures from extortion and intimidation.”

Dolphin Bay interviewed a Johannesburg quantity surveyor who has experienced the thuggery first-hand, and who asked to remain anonymous. “I’ve been witness to a couple of occasions where fights have broken out and guns have come out,” he said. “It doesn’t happen on all sites or all the time and I think the industry is evolving to deal with it upfront, rather than getting caught later on in the project’s lifecycle.”

He described a recent incident at a site in Randburg. “A crowd came in and said that they’d be taking over certain areas of the job. ‘We’re going to be doing the tiling’ they said. In other instances it might be, ‘We’re going to be doing the plumbing’ or ‘We’re going to be doing the plastering.’ Just like that. They walk in, armed, and they sit in the site office and tell you what they’re going to do.

“It then transpired that these project hijackers were actually from Soshanguve – nowhere near Randburg. They weren’t even from the area. These groups say they’re looking for jobs for their people, but are they really? No, they’re probably just looking to make a fast buck for themselves.”

Legal experts point out that thorough due diligence, including community consultation before a project begins, can enable companies to “get ahead of the problem”.

Since 2015, groups calling themselves “local business forums” have been infiltrating construction projects, extorting money, or demanding a stake as high as 30% in contracts. To protect themselves against violence, intimidation and sabotage, many construction companies now hire armed security guards, building the added costs into the project contract.

The thugs have become increasingly brazen. In June 2024, a project to revamp the Golden Highway bridge, valued at nearly R550 million, was put on hold after some of the construction company’s employees were shot and assaulted.

While the problem is worst around South Africa’s main economic hubs (KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, and the Western Cape), it is experienced nationwide.

“Tide is turning”

The police didn’t respond to several requests for comment, but Lennox Mabaso, spokesperson for the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure, told the Dolphin Bay Brief that “slowly but surely, the tide is turning against the construction mafia.”

The department’s minister, Dean MacPherson, convened an Anti-Construction Mafia Summit in November last year, after which law enforcement agencies intensified their intelligence gathering, data tracking and actions against these criminals. Since then, 745 construction-related extortion cases have been reported to the police and 240 arrests made, the highest numbers in Gauteng, the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Eastern Cape, respectively.

“Progress has included the deployment of Economic Infrastructure Task Teams to known construction mafia hotspots, which ensures that swift arrests took place and infrastructure is protected,” Mabaso said.

The anonymous Extortion Hotline on 0800 911 011 has received 779 reports, he added. “Major breakthroughs are being made daily, and this has resulted in improved confidence in the construction sector.”

A second Department of Public Works summit will take place in the coming months.

“Major breakthroughs are being made daily, and this has resulted in improved confidence in the construction sector.”

National government has responded to the problem by introducing policies and legislation like the Critical Infrastructure Protection Act 8 of 2019, the National Infrastructure Plan, and the Infrastructure Built Anti-Corruption Forum.

Often the criminals actors are known to local law enforcement. The sense in the industry is that the police are compromised, either because they’ve been intimidated by these groups or because they’re on the take themselves.

Getting Ahead of the Problem

Martin Versveld and Tyron Theessen are partners at Big Five law firm Webber Wentzel and act for many companies in the construction sector, from developers to subcontractors.

The construction mafia is “front of mind for everybody,” they observed.

They advise their clients to “get ahead” of the problem by doing adequate due diligence before the project begins. “Find out which cartels are in place in the area and determine whether it’s a community you can negotiate with.”

There is often an underlying disgruntlement in communities about issues such as whether projects provide jobs for locals. “The bad actors tend to leverage what are completely legitimate grievances in the community, but in an exploitative or inflammatory manner,” Versveld said.

Communities have more members than the cartels and more power than one might think. When the project leaders negotiate with them beforehand with the aim of forging a longstanding relationship and employ community members, the community will act as a buffer and prevent the cartel from interfering with the project.

“One of our clients had some of their heavy earthmoving equip stolen. They reminded the community that they had a deal, and within hours the equipment was returned, beautifully washed. How did they do it? They have their means.”

While the principal contractor has substantial control in mitigating their risks, suppliers “would be well advised to interrogate the supply chain to make sure that those with the required influence are getting ahead of the problem.”

Construction provides the hard infrastructure on which the economy depends, and as a result, any crime that targets the sector will have adverse multiplier effects. Given South Africa’s significant infrastructure development gaps (which the World Bank estimates to be worth as much as R6.2 trillion), there are many opportunities for development… and many opportunities for the construction mafia.

Dolphin Bay’s clients are, in most cases, suppliers to building sites – so while the construction mafia may not directly affect our industry, we’re not immune to its effects either.

“We often feel dragged down when we hear about the evil surrounding business activities,” said Bertus. “But we are encouraged by the little spark of hope that we see through communities, and the initiatives taken by people who reject these practices.

“May our business and industries prosper on the basis of proper business practices.”

construction mafia, South Africa, infrastructure, extortion, building sites, local business forums, crime, public works, job creation, project delays, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape, legal advice, community engagement, construction industry, security, development, anti-corruption, infrastructure protection.

Source: Dolphin Bay