This newspaper has long exercised severe scepticism around the promises and threats of politicians and law enforcement officers to “get tough on crime”, to “wage war on crime” or, in Minister of Safety and Security Steve Tshwete’s memorable phrase, to “kick the criminals in the stomach”.
Our demand, and we believe the demand of the much-victimised public, has been for results, not rhetoric; prosecutions, not promises. Now, happily, the first signs are there to be seen that it is time to climb down from that position.
One of the positive signs this week came when Tshwete spelt out the provisions of government’s new Firearms Control Bill. With firearms used in 85% of robberies in South Africa, it was encouraging to note that Tshwete gave no indication that the government was going to cave in to pressure from the gun lobby. It was just as heartening to note that provisions had been introduced to prevent people guilty of any crimes of violence from licensing firearms.
Even more significantly, perhaps, the Bill also looks beyond its legislative nose to build in provisions to cut off the ready supply of illegal weapons into South Africa, and at the same time provide for stricter controls over state-owned firearms. While we would suggest that building in a five-year lead-in period when existing licences would remain valid could defeat the immediate purpose of clamping down on crime, the law – if it is vigorously and speedily implemented – could have a significant impact on violent crime in a notoriously violent society.
Most of the optimism we currently feel, however, has to be credited to the various crime fighting units operating under National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka. The arrest last week of alleged mafia boss Vito Palazzolo, after decades of his eluding the law and seemingly enjoying the protection of the South African authorities, is a case in point. We understand that Ngcuka’s investigators have a docket running to thousands of pages, and moreover that it contains well-substantiated allegations of crimes ranging from drug-running to bribery and extortion and even gun-running against the Italian gangster. However, the prosecution appears to be building its case around the relatively low-key crime of false declaration in immigration papers.
This is not only smart, but also strategic within the ambit of the prosecution-driven approach to investigation that Ngcuka has pioneered in South African law enforcement. The important thing in his prosecutions mandate, as Ngcuka has remarked, is to act against crime and to get the criminals out of circulation, not to solve every crime. By limiting its case to what would appear a more or less open- and-shut matter, the directorate will achieve two things: first, give itself more than a fighting chance of winning, and second, leave the option open to deport the alleged mafia lord to the Italian authorities, who have their own, much larger and probably sharper axes to grind.
Meanwhile, the Mail & Guardian understands, Ngcuka’s investigators have already worked up plans to act against identified gang lords and lieutenants (the names are known to the M&G) who are expected to move into the turf that could open up when Palazzolo is taken off the streets.
What this points to is a commendable synergy among the three parts of Ngcuka’s operational trinity, with intelligence, investigation and prosecution arms working together towards the same goal.
A similarly co-ordinated strategy can be discerned in ongoing actions against other gang and crime lords in the Western Cape, as reported in this week’s paper. Swooping on Chris Patterson, the Wonderkids gang leader and member of the notorious Firm this week, the asset forfeiture unit justified their seizure in terms of illegal liquor and drugs operations allegedly being run from the premises. Meanwhile, with Patterson thus taken out of circulation, the South African Revenue Service has been brought in to investigate evidence of multimillion-rand tax fraud.
In another development, the directorate’s earlier high-profile failures to seize the assets of gang leader Gavin Carolus, allegedly crooked cop Piet Meyer and apartheid chemical warfare programme chief Wouter Basson could be turned into successes in coming weeks. The directorate has petitioned the Supreme Court of AppealEin Bloemfontein to consider redrafted legislation seeking to give retroactive force to asset forfeiture provisions in the Prevention of Organised Crime Act. The Act has failed in the past to convince judges that proceeds of criminal activities accrued prior to the passing of the law could legally be seized.
If the appeal succeeds, the directorate could stand to recoup millions, if not billions, of rands from bosses and syndicates that have been preying on society for decades.
MEANWHILE, WITH THE MOOTED BUILDING OF A UNITED STATES FBI ACADEMY IN SOUTH AFRICA, THE FIGHT AGAINST CRIME COULD TAKE A QUANTUM LEAP. NOT ONLY WOULD THE ACADEMY GUARANTEE STATE-OF-THE-ART TRAINING, BUT IT WOULD ALSO GUARANTEE THE CO-OPERATION OF THE WORLD’S MOST FORMIDABLE CRIME INVESTIGATION OUTFIT. AND WHILE WE ADMIT TO QUALMS ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF BECOMING A LATTER-DAY COLONY OF UNCLE SAM, WE HAVE TO ADMIT THAT THE SIGNS ARE THERE THAT SOUTH AFRICA COULD BE BECOMING A LESS PLEASANT HAVEN FOR CRIMINALS, ORGANISED AND DISORGANISED ALIKE, THAN IT IS AT THE MOMENT. THAT IS JUSTIFICATION ENOUGH.