The impact of passenger rail project disruption : case of construction mafia in South Africa

Abstract

The paper assesses the impact of disruptions attributable to construction mafia in rail construction projects. The construction mafia disguised as business forum invades the construction sites to extort money from contractors - making use of violence and intimidation. The construction mafias operate as labourer organizers, giving contractors an ultimatum to pay excessive rates or face strike action, often coupled with the threat of damage to property and threats of violence to those who would otherwise wish to continue working. There are also mafias who provide no service but simply seek a protection fee to ensure they do not disrupt the project. The paper used secondary data to quantify the extent to which the disruption of construction sites impacts the rail sector. The paper found that, the construction mafias are familiar with the South African procurement regulations, for instance the 30% extortion demand relates to the 2017 Preferential Procurement Regulations. Amongst other, the extortion costs the country billions of Rands in revenue and delays the completion of critical construction projects. Therefore, jeopardising critical infrastructure development opportunities. The paper advocates for stakeholders’ engagements at the beginning of projects to prevent the construction mafia’s disruption from impacting construction sites negatively. The engagements with the affected communities through recognized and authorized structures such as local councillors, municipality, traditional leaders, will be beneficial for effective and sustainable processes of developing and maintaining rail infrastructure.