Mafia Won't Derail Acsa

CONSTRUCTION: STEPS IN HOW THEY DEAL WITH PUBLIC INFORMATION

- Roy Cokayne

Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) is taking an extreme measure to prevent its R21.7 billion infrastructure programme from being derailed by the "construction mafia" – secrecy. Acsa CEO Mpumi Mpofu said the minute Acsa mentions a multi-billion project or what it will cost, it "attracts the type of attention we don't need".

Mpofu said Acsa is preparing for this, adding that briefings are taking place across South Africa about the risk and being better prepared, including "these measures of not being out there for all of us, not just airports".

"Everybody who has got a big capital programme is now applying precautionary steps in the way they deal with the public information around their projects," she said.

How do bad actors gain access? Moneyweb asked Mpofu how the construction mafia or so-called business forums gain access to Acsa properties as they are national key points and are supposed to be secured from a security perspective.

She cited the example of "findings" that indicate the "construction mafia" now block or hijack material supply from source.

She said "all sorts of things" are happening and that the construction mafia's actions are getting extremely complex.

"We have amended the presentation because of a really new threat splashing around how much money these projects cost. It's now a risk in SA."