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City fires firm with alleged gang ties

Construction company Haw & Inglis has been sacked from a massive City contract after it emerged that it had hired a security company owned by a gang boss. Yesterday, City Mayco member for human settlements Benedicta van Minnen said they had instructed their implementing agent, Aecom, to terminate Haw & Inglis’ contract. Aecom had subcontracted Haw and Inglis to work on the City’s Community Residential Unit Refurbishment project. Allegations that a subcontractor employed by the City had been hiring gangsters as construction workers and security guards surfaced in December last year. The allegations emerged after e-mail correspondence was leaked from Mayco member for safety and security JP Smith’s office in April.

Smith’s e-mails are dated December 2 and December 12 last year. In the e-mails Smith mentions two subcontractors, Haw & Inglis (H&I) and Good Hope Construction (GHC), and prominent gang leaders allegedly being paid protection money. The sub-contractors had been employed by city contractors Aecom after the project to upgrade 43 500 city rental units on the Cape Flats began in 2009. The project has been hindered by ongoing gang violence following complications with initial contractor Filcon, which made headlines last year when government contracts awarded to it in the Western Cape, to the value of almost R400 million, were either cancelled, halted or left in jeopardy. Police spokesperson André Traut confirmed that SAPS is investigating the matter. Yesterday, Van Minnen said: “The security company was not registered with the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority as required by law, and should not have been allowed to operate.”

Haw & Inglis manager Jacques de Ridder refused to comment. Aldu le Grange, Aecom assisting project manager and also a facilitator of talks between Aecom, the city and contractors said: “We are unaware of anything the City is mentioning.”

Source: www.iol.co.za

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City fires firm with alleged gang ties

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