Developer puts 'construction mafia' on payroll
A Durban property developer has been forced to put 'construction mafia' groups on his payroll as he rebuilds two malls, says a Sunday Times report.
Gary Gould’s properties, one in Umlazi and the other in Inanda, were looted and vandalised during the July riots last year.
Since then, shoppers haven’t set foot in his properties, Philani Valley Mall south of Durban and Dube Village Mall in the north.
The complexes, which served thousands of consumers, lay in ruins for months as Gould, a major shareholder, waited for Sasria to pay his R137m damages claim.
A research report titled Extortion or Transformation: The Construction Mafia in SA, compiled by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime and released last month, found some groups muscling in on construction sites capitalised on last year’s unrest.
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