Cape Town - Extortion is destroying the economy of townships, undermining job creation and the ability of people to provide for their families.
These were views during a dialogue between township business owners and the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Mitchells Plain.
Business owners shared their concerns and the police informed the meeting that they would add more detectives to investigate cases.
Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry CEO John Lawson said businesses in Mitchells Plain, Khayelitsha and other poorer areas experienced crimes in various ways, which undermined the economy.
“They lose at least 6% of turnover in terms of cost, which undermines job creation. And of course it pushes poverty and reduces investment, so tens of thousands of jobs here are being deprived because crime is not addressed,” he said.
Lawson said business people did not know how to deal with extortion and they feared for their lives. He said a solution had to be found.
Lawson said the purpose of the dialogue was to try to help businesses to understand what was already being done about the people responsible. He said the public sector had responded well.
The City’s director for operations co-ordination Rob Robbert said the City was assisting business communities, even those who wanted to stay anonymous out of fear.
“If that person is not willing to report it to the police, we will take information from them, still keeping it confidential, and will report it to the SAPS, and we will keep track of that information. We started off with the toll-free number where extortion cases can be reported on 0800 006 992.
“We determined yesterday that the footprint of extortion is unknown in the city due to the fear of life. People are afraid to go to the police. In formal businesses like pubs and restaurants there are high-flyers previously in the media. Then there are informal businesses like spaza shops that have to pay ransom money for security services where gangsters are involved; our construction sites where we had to decommission our sites due to contractors threatened on site, and they have to pay ransom money to take on other security companies from gangsters.
“The discussion was to table the problem and how we are going forward with it. We must support the police. The business community needs to form a task team that can speak directly to the City and to the police with regards to extortion.”
Political head Ricardo Mackenzie said the missing stakeholders were the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
“We have been receiving a lot of complaints about extortion in the Mitchells Plain area, so working with the local councillors and others, we discussed the increase of this type of crime and we need to see (authorities) proactive and more actions,” he said.
“It needs to be stopped, and the prosecution needs to increase. Arrests are made but there is a severe shortage of prosecutions. We need more detectives to investigate these cases.
“Future partners in this debate need the NPA and the receiver of revenue because we need to find where the money these people extort goes to.”
Councillor Avron Plaatjies said it was crucial to hold an essential discourse with the business community of Mitchells Plain.
“We must put forth our best effort to ensure our business communities are safe and secure so they can thrive and grow. We need to work together to create a better and more secure environment for our business owners. This can only be achieved through effective communication and collaboration.”
Business owner Patrick Lugogwana said: “We now have to include extortion in the SWOT analysis as part of threats. We must then come up with a strategy on how to deal with that because it’s a reality because people will come and ask for a stake in your business. The dialogue was very encouraging because in the past, the businesses solved this on their own.”