Threats halt R20bn Go!Durban project

Disgruntled taxi operators armed with guns are holding the city to ransom after chasing construction workers off sites for the R20 billion Go!Durban public transport project. Work was put on hold this week when a group of armed taxi operators forcibly removed contractors from sites, which could increase the cost of the project. The operators stormed sites in the Umgeni River area near Newlands, Dumisani Makhaye Drive, the M25, and Bridge City on Monday. Work has not resumed at the sites. The eThekwini Transport Authority head, Thami Manyathi, said the construction of Pixley kaSeme Hospital near Bridge City was also affected. Go!Durban works in Pinetown were not affected. A worker, who did not want his identity revealed, said when they arrived on Monday the taxi operators were hostile and within about 10 minutes all the workers had been driven off. By Wednesday, there was still no workers or machinery at the sites, other than the security guards who were in a panic over rumours that they might be targeted.

Manyathi said they feared the delay could push up the costs and force the city to extend the project’s deadline. “If the contractors cannot do work, they can put a claim against the city for compensation,” he said. Manyathi said this was the second disruption after a breakaway taxi group protested in October last year. A meeting has been scheduled for Tuesday when stakeholders, including the authority, contractors, and the taxi operators, would discuss the latest disruption. Manyathi said the report they received from the contractors indicated that the taxi operators “threatened the workers”. “The issue has been elevated with the leadership of the taxi industry and we want to understand what the complaints are about and look at how we resolve these issues jointly.”

Manyathi said a mismatch of opportunities available and skills required sparked the disruptions. “This is frustrating these people. They can see the work going on in their neighbourhood, but they don’t have the requisite skills or experience to get involved. “They want to become involved even in the construction activities.” Manyathi said before the project started, the authority had gone to 16 wards which could be affected during the construction and developed a database of the unemployed. “There is an undertaking that 100% of unskilled labour will be sourced from those wards. We also tried to sign up to the database of all the businesses in those wards, but most of the people did not meet the prerequisites because they had no experience.”

Manyathi said the transport authority proposed an incubation programme “to facilitate some involvement, even from a relatively inexperienced or unskilled base, and then people can graduate and acquire the skills that they can use in future projects”. He said the contractors had an obligation to deliver the project and needed to be in the first line of engagement with the taxi operators on exactly what the issues were. Sifiso Mthethwa, chairman of the Greater Northern Region Taxi Association, said the taxi operators who had stopped the construction did fall under the association, “but I do not know their complaints because I was not there”. “When I tried to find out, the answer was that whatever happened would be discussed in the meeting with the authority, the contractors, and the unsatisfied taxi operators who are looking for opportunities in the construction.”

Manyathi said he was not sure if the contractors who had threatened the workers were the same as those who had disrupted work last year. “The sad part is that until such skill or experience is established, it is going to remain difficult for them to take advantage of the opportunities available.” He said the first phase of the project was estimated at R11 billion. “Already R2.6bn worth of contracts have been awarded and out of that R367m is set aside for sub-contracting to local businesses and small businesses in the city.” The overall cost for all the four phases is about R20bn and the last phase is scheduled to finished by 2027. The affected construction firms had not replied to queries by the time of publication.