Gustav Thiel
Police admitted this week that not a single ringleader of any of the 700 crime syndicates operating in South Africa has been arrested.
The South African Police Service (SAPS) and the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) said the proliferation of crime syndicates since 1994 is crime fighting authorities’ biggest headache. But police admit to making no significant inroads in crushing them. Only 192 syndicates are being investigated.
Mark Shaw, of the ISS, said the lack of success proved that law enforcement institutions “do not yet have the resources or technical expertise to cope adequately with crime.
“Intelligence estimates indicate that organised crime has doubled under the new government. Police estimates further suggest that there are currently about 700 extremely well-financed and superbly armed crime syndicates operating in and from South Africa.”
In contrast, the SAPS Crime Information Management Centre said in a report published in August that only “192 organised crime syndicates with 1 903 primary suspects are known to be operating in South Africa”.
Police are unwilling to release any significant information about any of the syndicates while they are carrying out investigations. Giving out information “could seriously jeopardise future investigations”, said Sharon Schutte, senior superintendent of the national detective service (NDS).
Her colleague, superintendent George Mason, agrees: “Due to the nature of the investigations and the fact that many individuals are standing trial on charges relating to organised crime, statistics relating to their identity and involvement cannot be disclosed.”
What little information the police do offer shows their lack of success. This year, they have made 321 arrests relating to organised crime. An investigation into a vehicle theft syndicate led to the arrest of 30 people. Seven arrests were made on charges relating to the illegal manufacture of mandrax, nine for smuggling dagga from Lesotho to South Africa and 46 for cocaine smuggling.
In Gauteng, 229 people were arrested for crimes which, Mason said, were related to activities of major crime syndicates. A source at the NDS admitted that the arrests involve only small-time couriers for the major syndicates and that there are few leads pointing to ringleaders.
According to police statistics most of the syndicates specialise in drug trafficking (96), vehicle-related crimes (83), commercial crime (60) or any combination of these crimes.
Shaw said the only way to successfully counter crime syndicates would be to establish a nationally co-ordinated body. He warned, however, that the growth of organised crime cannot be divorced from the broader issue of governance and economic development.
“The weaker the state becomes over time the more likely that criminal organisations will form parallel and competing points of power which will be difficult to displace,” he said.