Civil engineers are seeking jobs abroad ‘due to construction mafia’

The rising incidence of intimidation, violence and threats to life in the construction industry has caused low morale among civil engineers and many are considering job opportunities abroad for safer working conditions. 

SA Institution of Civil Engineering (Saice) president Andrew Clothier said the situation presented a moral dilemma for civil engineering professionals, as they are forced to weigh their personal safety against their professional responsibilities.

“The ethical obligation to report misconduct becomes increasingly difficult when the risk of severe consequences, including harm or death, are present, and understandably, this can lead to them compromising their ethical standards to maintain their positions, secure projects or even spare their lives,” he said. 

The threats usually take the form of verbal, written and physical threats and intimidation. In some cases, members have been suspended (with full pay) on trumped-up charges. Others have been demoted in their leadership roles or forced to resign due to an untenable working environment.

“Construction mafias, often labelled ‘business forums’, are networks that employ violence and other illegal means of controlling access to public sector procurement opportunities,” he said.

Clothier said in 2019 alone these incidents affected R63bn worth of projects, targeting the government’s 30% procurement policies. “This policy should be scrapped as it is not benefiting those intended.”

Incidents have become so rampant that they were affecting the real estate sector, leading to increased costs, project delays and reduced investment.

More compliant

“More specialised professionals are vulnerable as they are in higher decision-making positions with greater exposure to large [budgets], which they influence based on scope and execution.

“The trend is now to hire younger, inexperienced professionals so they can ‘groom’ them into unethical decision-making, or to divert the hiring of nontechnical staff instead, who would be more compliant with ‘following orders’,” he said. 

Financial interests, intimidation to evade regulations, competition for scarce resources, organised crime, corruption, political interference, and ineffective law enforcement have contributed to a situation in which engineering professionals are excluded from the tender-scoring and awarding process.

Instead, these responsibilities now fall solely on nontechnical supply chain departments and bid adjudication committees, undermining accountability in supply chain management.

“Now, any layman in an organisation has line of sight of projects that will be awarded and thus their personal interest is spiked. As the R860bn projected spending by government on infrastructure over the ensuing years is released, I can only but conclude that these incidents will increase,” Clothier said. 

“Projects put out by the public sector are primarily targeted as there is policy stating that each project needs to allocate 30% to local spend [on] local emerging companies. It is this 30% that the construction mafia are targeting.”

While some cases have been reported to Saice, Clothier notes that many go unreported due to concerns about anonymity and a lack of trust in officials. Reported cases have been escalated to the Engineering Council of SA (Ecsa).

To address the escalating violence, Clothier emphasised the need for several measures, including whistle-blower protection and confidential reporting systems.

He also highlighted the importance of enhancing on-site security. The Cape Town mayor has announced a R55m investment in additional security measures to ensure construction can proceed safely.

With Kabelo Khumalo

majavun@businesslive.co.za