Africa-Press – Eswatini. Strong allegations have emerged to the effect that a mafia has taken over the local construction industry, which has resulted in granting of lucrative tenders to foreign companies.
The extent in which the ‘construction mafia’ invaded the local space has allegedly caused a serious shortage of work for local contractors, civil works, and consultants together with specialists in the process culminated in the loss of jobs as hundreds of Eswatini companies continue to close down due a massive shrink in revenue.
Over 100 players in the local construction industry, who converged at the Construction Industry Council (CIC) workshop convened at Happy Valley Hotel yesterday, made a plea to the regulator to decisively deal with the continuous hostile takeover by the ‘construction mafia’ before effects became dire and had a huge negative impact in the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
As such, Ngubo Yengwe Construction Director, Sabelo Nhleko, called upon the council to extensively address the issue of companies, which grant tenders to foreign companies much against dictates of the CIC Act.
Nhleko said it was very disheartening to see what he termed as simple jobs being undertaken by foreign companies while local companies continued to struggle for jobs.
He made an example that companies such Inyatsi Construction Group, which empowered fellow Emaswati through sub-contracts and tenders, were also victims of the ‘construction mafia,’ which always makes it a point that foreign companies are granted all the pricey jobs.
“CIC was established in 2013 primarily to protect local construction industry players. However, we continue to experience a lot of irregularities, especially the granting of tenders to foreign companies, which is very painful to say the least. We are still struggling for jobs even today because there is a mafia, which has taken over the local construction industry,” said Nhleko.
He implored the kingdom to emulate Botswana, where he said no foreign companies get contracted for any work below E300 million.
The contractor also acknowledged that the lack of adequate protection was also propagated by the absence of CIC Act regulations, which failed to get Parliament approval.
“Power struggles are what have stalled passing of regulations by Parliament. There is a group, which continues to stall such important pieces of legislation using Parliament for their selfish interests.
We hope CIC will engage the upcoming Parliament to pass the regulations. The situation on the ground is really bad. We need a proper legislation to protect Emaswati,” Nhleko emphasised.
CIC Chief Executive Officer, Maqhawe Mnisi, also acknowledged that they were challenged by the lack of compliance in various aspects, which include granting of tenders to foreign companies, especially by the large corporations.
Mnisi admitted that they had also seen local companies, which heavily rely on government tenders, struggling but worked around the clock to ensure that local companies were protected against all odds.
Private companies, especially in the retail space, were mainly accused of continuously breaching Construction Industry Act of 2013 through illegally granting construction tenders to foreign firms.
The CIC Compliance and Operation Manager, Phumlani Kunene, said they were concerned by the continued non-adherence to the law, particularly because it deprived local companies of much needed tenders, which result in job losses.
“The big companies, especially when constructing commercial properties, do not adhere to the act when appointing foreign contractors. Very soon, we will be taking the defiant project owners to court and also invoke the penalty as enshrined in the act because we continue to see a lot of resistance,” Kunene said.
Section 40 of the CIC Act dictates that a person shall not award a contract for construction works to a foreign company or firm without the approval of the council.
It goes on to state that where an award for a contract was referred to the council for approval and the council determines that the construction work to be awarded could be undertaken by a Swati company, the council shall not endorse its approval and the person shall not award the contract to the foreign company.
Where a person who contravenes this provision in the act, this was tantamount to committing an offence and shall be liable, on conviction, to a penalty not exceeding 10 per cent of the gross estimated value of the project or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding 10 years or both.
Kunene emphasised that a contractor should not carry on business in the construction industry in Eswatini unless the contractor was registered with CIC.
He also explained that a contractor registered under the act should not undertake construction work in a category in respect of which that person was not registered.
He quoted the act, which reads; “a contractor shall not undertake, carry out or complete any construction works or a portion of such works for either a public and, or a private sector contract, awarded in terms of competitive tender or quotation, unless the contractor is registered with the council and holds a valid certificate issued by the council according to categorisation of contractors.”
Kunene stated that there were currently 41 registered foreign contractors with CIC, which was not a true reflection of foreign firms currently undertaking work in the country.
“The 41 registered foreign firms is not a true reflection. I think we have over 141 foreign construction companies undertaking works presently but we are coming for them. This is very unfair for locals but we are dealing with it,” Kunene assured.
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