President Cyril Ramaphosa will soon meet with the South African Forum of Civil Engineering Contractors about a letter the organisation wrote to him regarding armed gangs sabotaging construction, the Presidency told Fin24.
Safcec CEO Webster Mfebe wrote to President Cyril Ramaphosa in March, asking that government move to address the crisis with urgency.
Mfebe – also a former Member of Parliament for the African National Congress and former trade unionist for the National Union of Mineworkers – asked for a comprehensive Cabinet intervention.
He said Strabag International recently pulled out of a joint venture to build the South African National Roads Agency Mtentu Bridge project worth R1.6bn due to violent disruptions.
Violent disruption
In his letter to Ramaphosa, Mfebe wrote that construction projects worth at least R25.5bn were being violently disrupted and halted, saying this undermined investor confidence.
Presidency spokesperson Khusela Diko confirmed receipt of the letter from Safcec by the Presidency and said it had received Ramaphosa’s attention.
"The issues they are raising have been discussed by the recent Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Committee meeting. The President has also undertaken to set up a meeting with Safcec. Some of the matters are being handled by provinces and national already," Diko said.
Diko added that interventions in the matter were being handled by the Department of Economic Development.