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For a long time, the Democratic Alliance (DA) has been calling on national government to effectively combat the Construction Mafia, which has crippled the construction industry. Now, Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Dean Macpherson has announced that a national summit will be convened to abolish the criminal syndicates.

The DA welcomes this step as well as Minister Macpherson's decision to investigate stolen money and failed projects including the Telkom Towers debacle in Tshwane and the R300 million IT theft over a period of 10 years.

The public and private construction sectors can no longer afford to ignore or tolerate systemic extortion. Collaboration is essential to develop sustainable solutions that protect their collective interests as well as those of the public. We believe that this summit will be a step in the right direction.

It is vital that Minister Macpherson and his department continue to establish solutions to curb corruption, empower national infrastructure projects and turn South Africa into a construction site.

We hope that this positive step by Minister Macpherson can be replicated in the fight against growing mafia and protection rackets in schools, churches, formal and informal trading and the entertainment industry.

Issued by Edwin Bath MP - DA Deputy Spokesperson on Public Works and Infrastructure