Ms Jonas presented her paper “Extortion-Related Disruption in South African Construction: Legal–Enforcement Misalignment in Organised-Crime Responses” at the 12th International Sustainable Ecological Engineering Design for Society (SEEDS) Conference in London.
Researchers from around the world attended the conference co-hosted by Leeds Beckett University, MLA College, Loughborough University, the University of Suffolk and the University of the West of England, Bristol, in collaboration with GEDU Global Education and CIFAL City of London.
Established in 2015, SEEDS is an international research forum focused on sustainability, engineering and the built environment.
Selected conference papers are published through Springer Nature, adding to the academic significance of Jonas’s recognition, said her supervisor, Professor Gerrit Crafford from the Department of Quantity Surveying.
This award follows Ms Jonas’s success at the 15th SACQSP International Research Conference in 2025, where she received an award in the “Navigating Disruption in the Built Environment” category for her paper, “Building Resilience: Countering South Africa’s Construction Mafia Through Stakeholder Collaboration in the Construction Industry.”
Both papers form part of her MSc research, titled “Factors Shaping Stakeholder Responses to Extortion-Related Disruption in South African Construction Projects.” The SEEDS paper focused on the gap between legal provisions and enforcement practices, whereas the 2025 one explored stakeholder collaboration.
For the SEEDS paper, Ms Jonas interviewed seven specialist construction lawyers from Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape. The research identified three key challenges, namely, criminal activity is often treated as separate offences rather than coordinated organised crime; uncertainty exists around labour and subcontracting requirements; and fear of retaliation can discourage victims from reporting incidents.
The research recommended better coordination in organised-crime prosecutions, clearer guidance for contractors and stronger confidential reporting and witness-protection measures. It also distinguished between legitimate community participation and coercive extortion, stressing the importance of protecting lawful community involvement, as well as addressing criminal interference in construction projects.
For Ms Jonas, the award marks an important milestone in her development as a researcher. Her achievements at both national and international level highlight the relevance of her research and its potential to contribute to more effective responses to extortion and organised crime in South Africa’s construction sector.