Extortion Disrupts 32 City Projects Across Cape Town

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Extortion continues to disrupt service delivery across Cape Town, with 15 City projects currently affected and at least five forced to stop completely. A further 17 projects are reportedly being impacted by interference from so-called business forums, with two of those projects also brought to a halt. The City of Cape Town says extortion has developed into a major and growing crisis, affecting businesses, municipal services and development projects, particularly in informal settlements. Criminal networks, often described as the “construction mafia”, are allegedly demanding money or employment opportunities from contractors. The interference has resulted in delays to projects worth hundreds of millions of rand. The situation took a deadly turn in 2023 when City of Cape Town official Wendy Kloppers was murdered at a housing development in Delft. Kloppers was allegedly killed after the City refused to give in to gangsters who were demanding work from contractors involved in the project. Delft Remains Major Extortion Hotspot Cape Town Safety and Security MMC JP Smith said Delft continues to be one of the areas most severely affected by extortion-related disruptions. “The projects in Delft with the road refurbishment have repeatedly been stopped, to the point where the contractors walked away from those projects, and we had to find new contractors,” Smith said. According to Smith, the City is increasingly relying on security escorts to protect workers and ensure that projects can continue despite threats and interference. However, he warned that security escorts are not a sustainable long-term solution. Smith has called for law enforcement agencies to identify, arrest and prosecute those responsible for extortion and intimidation, saying stronger criminal justice action is needed to prevent further disruption to essential infrastructure and service delivery.

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