Durban - A shadowy uMlazi business forum that has used violence and intimidation to shut down municipal depots - demanding tenders and contracts - has launched mafia-style tactics on Durban’s private construction industry, imposing their workers on contractors and demanding “protection fees”.
The brazen actions of the Delangokubona Business Forum have rattled construction bosses who are at their wits’ end as to what to do.
In recent weeks members of the forum have stormed at least eight construction sites in Durban and have threatened the lives of contractors, demanding they employ their workers and pay them a fee to ensure no disruptions on site.
“It is nothing but pure thuggery,” a construction company owner told the Daily News.
“The are behaving like the mafia and there is little we can do. Some of the companies they are targeting are JSE-listed companies. They just walk on site and set demands,” the owner said.
He said five men from the forum would storm a construction site and demand to see the “boss”.
“Each of the men have their own Pty (company) and tell you that you must employ four skilled and four unskilled workers from them. On top of that you must give each of them R5 000 a fortnight to ensure there are no disruptions. That money is nothing but protection fees,” he said.
“At one construction site a group of men gave the owner of the company an AK-47 bullet and said this bullet was worth R17. That is the cost of your life if you do not comply with us,” he said.
The construction boss said that he, like many of his colleagues, had not laid charges with the police. Some of them, however, have approached a law firm seeking legal advice.
The construction industry has alerted the Master Builders Association and the SA Institute for Civil Engineers (SAICE) in the hope that they put pressure on authorities.
Earlier this month, the Master Builders Association called a meeting with the construction industry to deal with the issue.
The construction company owner said at least 10 companies attended.
“The association did not really help us.
“All they said to us was that we need to beef up security on site and at our houses because these guys threaten that if you do not comply with them they will come to your house,” he said.
A letter from the Master Builders Association KZN to members said they had received reports of disruptions at various sites throughout the province.
“This situation seems to be impacting negatively on the completion of contracts and the financial aspects thereof. Even more so, our report indicates acts of violence and intimidation on site. We are requesting our members supply details of such encounters to the association. As this is a matter of urgency.”
Ross Stembridge, the building services manager at Master Builders Association, refused to answer questions from the Daily News.
Attorney Peter Barnard, of law firm Cox Yeats, said he had been approached by a number of clients in the construction industry who wanted to put a stop to Delangokubona Business Forum.
“However, everyone I’ve spoken to is nervous and doesn’t want to put their name to anything. I can only go to court if I have a mandate from someone. Nobody wants to give me a mandate because they are all worried about the ramifications.
“A lot of people are complaining but they don’t want their names involved because they have been threatened, sometimes even with their lives,” he said.
Barnard said after arriving on site and demanding work, Delangokubona Business Forum also dictated to contractors what rate their workers should be paid.
“If they are told their work is substandard, apparently their response is, that is your problem, you sort it out’.
“They are seriously damaging an industry that is already struggling in the current economic climate” he said.
Barnard said a few companies had obtained court interdicts against the forum which needed to be enforced by the police.
He said in the cases where interdicts were taken out, the business forum seemed to have backed off.
In recent months the Delangokubona Business Forum has laid siege to several municipal depots, using violence and intimidation to prevent municipal workers from rolling out services unless they are given city contracts.
Municipal workers in some areas are being escorted by metro police to carry out work.
Nathi “Bhamuza” Mnyandu, chairman of the Delangokubona Business Forum, admitted they were demanding work from construction companies.
“All we are doing is ensuring these white and Indian companies comply with BEE. They must do the right thing,” he said.
He denied that they threatened construction bosses, saying they were talking s***.
Why haven’t we been arrested then? It is not true.”
Mnyandu said all companies, including the public sector, must have BEE contractors.
“That is the law of the country. It is policy. We are just making sure people comply. When we see that they do not comply we tell them that they must stop their work and start afresh,” he said.
Asked what would happen to those who refused to comply, Mnyandu said: “If they do not stop, they will get in trouble. We will give them direction and show them the constitution that we are using. If they still do not comply, ay, my friend, I can’t tell you over the phone what we will do.”
Daily News