Simmers urges extortion-plagued WC communities to begin assisting police investigations
Schooling and housing projects are among six Western Cape government sites being targeted by the construction mafia.
Western Cape Minister of Infrastructure Tertuis Simmers. Picture: @Min_TSimmers/X
CAPE TOWN - Western Cape Infrastructure MEC Tertuis Simmers has called on communities where extortion is rife to start assisting in police investigations.
Schooling and housing projects are among six Western Cape government sites being targeted by the construction mafia.
The projects, worth almost R400 million, have been delayed by as much as three years as a result of extortion that seems to be escalating across the country.
Simmers said almost a billion rand has been spent over the past five years to secure sites targeted by the construction mafia.
They've tried to address the scourge with tactical and monitoring units.
Simmers said, in many instances, extortionists lived in the very communities they were targeting projects in and were known to residents.
He pleaded with community members – the ones who stand to benefit from these projects – to provide authorities with information, promising to protect their identities.
Simmers said the worst acts of violence had been experienced at projects in the Gugulethu area, where a number of workers have been severely wounded in shootings.