Cape Town's Construction Mafia

(Media Release: Issued and provided by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime)

The extortion economy targeting the construction industry, whose main protagonists are commonly referred to as the ‘construction mafia’, first emerged in KwaZulu-Natal in 2014. 

By 2016, these activities had spread across the province, targeting government and private development projects. Those involved formed groups known as ‘local business forums’ and carried out armed attacks on construction sites, intimidating workers and site officials, and demanding money or a stake in the projects.

The first high-profile construction mafia incident reported in the Western Cape occurred in March 2019, when the construction of a R2.4 billion German oil storage facility by Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon (WBHO) in Saldanha Bay was halted after an armed gang invaded the site.

By 2020, infrastructure projects across Cape Town were falling victim to the city’s own version of the construction mafia, in which housing and infrastructure projects were targeted.

Read the full report here.