Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane has disclosed that the province was without a head of crime intelligence for almost a year, hampering efforts to effectively deal with the economic sabotage caused by protection fee syndicates.
Mabuyane said that above and beyond their call for the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) to be deployed, the province needed an intelligence-driven programme to combat criminal syndicates.
“We are exposed to this criminality and my issue is that we have been reactionary instead of preventing criminality. It is only crime intelligence that infiltrates and gives us information on these networks. We now have a head of crime intelligence after almost a year,” he said.
“My argument is that if you bring in soldiers, you are preventing criminal damage. The government has to protect the fiscus, so when the country implodes because of criminality and the state is undermined like this, you can’t be reluctant to unleash state resources to protect its citizens and the fiscus,” Mabuyane said.
“Remember, when these things happen police are not involved. Only when a case has been opened do they get involved, we want to end that by having soldiers protecting the big infrastructure projects and the people of the Eastern Cape.”
He said police were under-resourced and had only one helicopter, which had been out of action due to breakdowns, to service the entire province — the country's second largest by land mass at 169,580km2.
Mabuyane said he had raised the issue of criminals hampering business in the province on numerous occasions with colleagues in national government, in ANC NEC meetings and during the 7th administration’s cabinet lekgotla. He said that since he took over as premier in 2019, the province had moved from having an investment portfolio of R200m to R200bn.
“That tells you the work that has been [done] in generating investment attraction. The growth in Coega and East London Industrial Development Zone accounts for more than 40,000 jobs. These criminal syndicates are well connected and they know that we are spending billions on infrastructure construction, which is why they have now copied amaDelangokubona’s [a business forum in KwaZulu-Natal] tactics to demand a certain percentage from these construction sites. Even business people in the townships and villages are suffering, those economies are important but are being sabotaged by criminals,” Mabuyane said.
He said multibillion-rand construction sites such as the R8bn Umzimvubu Water Project had been delayed for decades. The R4.05bn Mtentu Bridge project near Lusikisiki was initially awarded to Aveng Strabag but they walked away from it in 2019 after months of violent community protests, suspected to have been sponsored by extortion syndicates.
The SA National Roads Agency (Sanral) reissued the contract, which was then awarded to China Communications Construction Company in a joint venture with MECSA Construction in 2022. The construction of the bridge is expected to be completed by 2027, making it the highest in Africa. The bridge is part of Sanral’s N2 Wild Coast road project, which entails a 410km stretch of road from East London to the Mtamvuna River on the border of the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
“Police can bring law and order but they can’t stay on-site. So since soldiers are camping in their camps, they can camp at these sites of major projects as well and protect projects that are crucial to the fiscus. The projects will be finished on time and within budget. Companies can employ security to protect them but those security cannot withstand the criminals who are armed to the teeth from the construction mafias,” Mabuyane said.
He said the syndicates were growing because they were supported by business, politicians and protected by some criminal elements in the police. “In the Eastern Cape police work under difficult circumstances at times. The police stations are too far for them to respond but I must say many are trying. But there are some criminal elements within their ranks who work with criminal syndicates. Police have to be capacitated and there is now a serious plan, which I was shown by the police minister,” Mabuyane said.
Defence deputy minister Bantu Holomisa said he supported Mabuyane’s request. “All the police minister [Senzo] Mchunu has to do is to give the president and cabinet credible intelligence gathered and detail how they can be assisted by soldiers. The SANDF can help the police to conduct their investigations and searches. Soldiers can’t arrest or charge anyone but can cordon off an area when there is information from the police about these syndicates. We are ready,” said Holomisa.
Mabuyane said there was a need to focus on Mthatha before it collapsed and also Nelson Mandela Bay, where residents and business owners lived in fear.
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