Business forum accused of muscling in on construction project in Umlazi calls for sector to be regulated

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20-09-2024
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News 24
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• The Black Business Federation (BBF) addressed recent construction stoppages at Menzi High School, where intimidation tactics have delayed a R37.8 million project to enhance educational facilities.
• BBF secretary-general Wonder Jaca urged the government to recognise and regulate business forums to prevent criminal elements from exploiting legitimate contractors.
• The National Council of Provinces reiterated its stance against disruptions.

"We have always been on the right side of the law, or at least we have tried," says the Black Business Federation (BBF) after being accused of muscling in on a construction project.

It was responding to criticisms levelled against it during a Wednesday afternoon visit by KwaZulu-Natal Public Works and Infrastructure MEC Martin Meyer and National Council of Provinces (NCOP) members to Menzi High School in Umlazi.

The meeting took place after alleged construction mafia members disrupted a building project at the school on several occasions.

One contractor accused the BBF of "bulldozing its way to the table, self-benefitting, and using criminal tactics to extort the main contractor without even doing the job"

The BBF's secretary-general, Wonder Jaca, dismissed the claims and said they were not criminals. 

"We are black, yes, and we want participation in the national economy and projects correctly. We are registered, we have a constitution, and we have membership.

"We have always been on the right side of the law, or at least we have tried. There has been rejection by the government."

Jaca added they have always told the government to understand a new sector called business forums must be regulated and recognised. 

He said this would ensure they would also be part of the discussions before the stoppages of projects, not after. 

From there, added Jaca, everyone would sit down and agree on a social compact of how the project would run, with the involvement of proper, legitimate business forums. 

"If that happens, there would be no stoppages of projects," he said, adding the problem was that the government was failing to recognise and regulate business forum sectors.

"Every Tom, Dick and Harry can call himself a business forum. Also, any criminal can go to a project and demand 30%. Maybe those six stoppages were not from the business forum but from people mushrooming themselves as business forums."

Jaca said the BBF was set to write a letter to National Assembly Speaker Thokozile Didiza, calling for the regulation of business forums.

He added this would help when claiming to be a business forum; criteria would be used to define and determine their legitimacy. 

Jaca said BBF already had a model and was prepared to be used by the government as a benchmark. 

Construction disruptions

The construction project, worth almost R40 million, to build 13 classrooms and specialised laboratories was meant to be completed in 2024. However, the date has been shifted to 2025.

Since construction started on 20 June 2022, the school has seen at least six disruptions. 

Some of these were carried out by a gun-wielding group who, during one incident, went as far as handing the site manager an envelope containing a bullet as a means of intimidation while demanding a 30% project value cut without lifting a finger.

Simphiwe Blose from the Department of Public Works also told the NCOP business forums were demanding work at the school, and they had to sit with them at several meetings.   

"It was not an easy exercise, especially because when they talk to you, they don't civilly talk to you. We tried in such a way that we managed to win some battles, and we lost some.

"There were a lot of threats to the main contractor to the point where he found an R5 rifle bullet in his car. There was a lot of intimidation," said Blose. 

When the issues were reported, he added, the community stood up and fought against the business forums. 

This because the community wanted the projects completed, and the school is proud of Umlazi as a township.

Blose said the revised completion date was April 2025 and work at the school was ongoing. 

The school is well-known for producing top matriculants in the province and the country after it cracked a 100% pass rate for 11 years in a row. In the class of 2023, the school got a 99.6% matric pass rate.

The education department said it was confident pupils would have more resources to learn from after the project was completed. 

The project details include the construction of:

• Thirteen new classrooms
• One multipurpose classroom
• A media centre
• A science laboratory
• An administration block
• An amphitheatre
• Combi sports court
• Assembly area

The NCOP's Mzamo Billy said they would not accept groups that deliberately stopped much-needed community projects.

"At the same time, we will not turn a blind eye to how the community should benefit from those opportunities. That must be done in a way that will compromise the work being done at this great school," added Billy.