Organised crime taking over South Africa – we are in ‘serious trouble’

Advocate Paul Pretorius, head of the State Capture Commission of Inquiry’s legal team, said South Africa is in serious trouble as a result of crime, corruption, and violence.

Pretorius told delegates at the “What Now Since the State Capture Commission?” workshop that corruption in South Africa is evolving.

He said corruption is out of control in South Africa and has moved from being centralised to being dispersed.

A rapid growth in crime syndicates is driving corruption, and they are using violent enforcement to get their way.

Pretorius said it is a matter of semantics whether South Africa has become a ‘failed state’ or a ‘mafia state’.

Economic stagnation, slow growth rates, extreme inequality, and the collapse of state institutions plague South Africa.

This makes the state vulnerable and fragile and opens the door for non-state power brokers to fill the gap.

Whenever there is a government failure, criminal networks step in. This includes criminals hijacking buildings or trucking syndicates sabotaging Transnet infrastructure.

The crime syndicates are infiltrating and corrupting a growing number of sectors in South Africa, which include:

• Local government and municipalities

• Infrastructure, including transport, construction, and water

• Healthcare, including hospitals and the Department of Health

• Education, including the Sector Education and Training Authority (SATA), National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NFSAS), and Fort Hare University

• Finance, including the National Lottery and the Road Accident Fund payouts

• Law enforcement, including the SA Police Service and the State Attorney

Pretorius said these are the sectors in South Africa’s government where corruption is currently prevalent

“Public funds are often diverted through bribery, fraud, and mismanagement, undermining service delivery and public trust,” he said.

Organised crime is growing even faster. He said the list of sectors crime syndicates are targeting is growing weekly.

• Illegal mining where Zama Zamas and extracting syndicates operate

• Sabotage syndicates where they break things and then fix them

• Assassinations, with an increase in political killings and other mafia activity

• Kidnapping and extortion, which has grown to 50 instances per day

• Transnational syndicates which make money through drugs, money laundering, poaching, and human trafficking

“Organised crime is an existential threat to South Africa’s demographic institutions, economy, and people,” the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime said.

Pretorius said South Africa is in serious trouble, and it is as if the society has become apathetic.

He said the country is far too polite, and important issues related to crime and corruption get lost in decorum.

“We are in serious trouble as a result of crime, corruption, violence, and the threat to our society,” Pretorius said.