DURBAN: SEEING is believing. That is the loose English translation of the name of the “construction mafia”, the Delangokubona Business Forum.
They were dubbed the “construction mafia” for their apparent brazen disruptions of developments across the city when they did not get their way. But leaders of the controversial business forum, which boasts more than 3000 members, are adamant that their cause and intentions have been misunderstood.
“We are not thugs,” said Thabani Mzulwini, the national chairperson of the Delangokubona Business Forum. “It is not fair to call us a mafia. We are a registered business forum with more than 3000 members across the country,” he said.
Since its formal registration in 2014, Delangokubona has made headlines by rattling construction bosses and local government officials around KwaZulu-Natal by storming onto development sites and other projects demanding the forum’s members be given sub-contracted work.
The forums popularity has grown over the years and now has a footprint in Polokwane, Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape.
They have plans to make inroads in all provinces.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Sunday Tribune, forum leaders and members of the national working committee said they only demanded that emerging entrepreneurs got a share of the tenders being awarded by local municipalities and businesses.
They also denied inciting violence by threatening workers with pangas and pistols when they went on sites.
Not fools
“We are not fools who are bored with their time and disrupt projects for fun. We are business people and what we are doing is enforcing the law and what the government calls ‘radical economic transformation’. And those who have tried taking us to court know this because all those matters have been withdrawn as soon as we filed the responding papers,” Mzulwini explained.
Working committee member Siyanda Nene, said they disrupted work if contractors refused to engage them in the boardroom.
“As soon as the contract is awarded we approach the contractor and ask about the contract participation goals because government says that 30% of the work must be given to local entrepreneurs but sometimes contractors don’t want to share so they try and frustrate us by delaying follow-up meetings.
“Now, we can’t have a situation where work is continuing on the site while the negotiations are still underway and we tell the main contractor this but they choose not to listen,” Nene explained.
He said they had been arrested for intimidation several times but none of those matters ever made it to court.
“Sometimes when we show up for pre-arranged meetings with the executives we are met with armed security guards and the police at the entrance.
“But I’m pleased to tell you that some companies and government officials are very welcoming, they are willing to engage in a civil manner which gives us hope for the future,” he added.
Nene said several of their negotiations with the likes of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport and the SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) had been successful and they were confident that other government departments and municipalities would also come to the party.
While they were known for construction tenders, Delangokubona secretary-general Thulani Myeza said their members had diverse business interests.
The group said it pained them when political leaders accused them of delaying service delivery when the forum demanded broader community participation in projects.
“Some of them (politicians) stand on podiums and sing about radical economic transformation, but in practice they choose to give jobs to their friends because they know they will get kickbacks or they want us poor entrepreneurs, who are just starting out, to pay them bribes.
No bribes
“We refuse to pay bribes. Why should we pay for our services?” asked Nene.
Forum members pay a once-off joining fee of R1000 and most of the forum’s funds are spent on legal fees.
Some of the high-profile court matters included Tongaat Hulett Developments, Vumani Civils CC, WK Construction SA and Water Bles Investments who were granted an interdict by the Durban High Court last year which prohibited Delangokubona members from intimidating or harassing construction workers at the multimillion-rand Sibaya
Precinct development in
uMdloti.
Last month Gideon Rousseau, the security manager of Innova Turnkey Pty Ltd, which is involved in a joint venture to construct the R150m Onomo Hotel on the Durban beachfront, also approached the high court after forum members allegedly threatened workers on the site.
“At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I must reiterate that we only disrupt projects when all other means have been exhausted.
“Ours is very clear, we will not back down until the mandate we’ve been given by members is fulfilled and if people would rather take us to court than talk then so be it,” said Mzulwini.
On their interest in private developments and companies, Mzulwini said the private sector had an obligation to comply with government policies, which included economic and development initiatives.
“The funny part is that sometimes when we try and talk to private contractors or companies we get politicians interfering.
“But then that’s when you know who really runs the show in that project,” he said, refusing to name the alleged culprits.
His sentiments were echoed by another national working committee member, Lihle Madlala, who said they were not against the hiring of the established contractors but would not stand by if there was no “local beneficiation”.
“Our plea is for the politicians to support us when we try to engage the private sector to give sub-contracts to local business people instead of making public statements saying they are going to crush us because that gives an impression that radical economic transformation is just a political slogan to them,” she said.
Asked why they don’t tender directly, Mzulwini said they could not apply for bigger contracts because their businesses were still in the lower grades.
They therefore had to go via the main contractor after that contractor had been awarded the job, as sub-contractors.
He said they did tender directly for work such as school feeding schemes and refuse removal.