Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Sihle Zikalala has defended his stance on the figures he has given on the number of people arrested for being involved in the construction Mafia.
Zikalala was accused by members of political parties of changing the number of suspects charged for crimes related to the construction Mafia in the country.
Political parties told Zikalala in Parliament on Wednesday that he initially said there were 200 people charged for construction Mafia crimes, but later changed and said it was 682.
But Zikalala defended the figures and said he obtained the information from the South African Police Service (SAPS), which arrests suspects involved in construction Mafia crimes.
The construction Mafia has been accused of stalling various projects worth billions of rands.
Zikalala said recently that the construction Mafia was costing the economy R68 billion.
During a question-and-answer question session with ministers in the economics cluster on Wednesday, Zikalala said he did not keep records of people arrested for these offences.
But it was the SAPS that was making arrests and collecting statistics on arrests.
“The incidents of construction Mafia are dealt with by relevant law enforcement agencies, including the SAPS, because this is a criminal activity. Disruption, intimidation, and extortion are all criminal and should be dealt with as such. The Department of Public Works does not make actual arrests because arrests must be made by law enforcement agencies. While we don’t make arrests or keep records, we obtain records and statistics from time to time from SAPS, which is the only competent authority to keep such information. Therefore, the total number of 682 that we have reported emerged from that process,” said Zikalala.
Zikalala said the SAPS was the only competent authority that could make arrests on these matters.
He said the government has established task teams to deal with the construction Mafia.
President Cyril Ramaphosa told parliament a few weeks ago that they had established 20 task teams that were cracking down on these syndicates.
Minister of Human Settlements Mmamoloko Kubayi said there were a number of projects that have been stalled by the construction Mafia, but they are now reviving some of the projects.
She said they were also working with the police on these cases.
Zikalala said government has given more resources to law enforcement agencies to crack down on the construction Mafia.
Politics