Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian

Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime

latest news & developments
South Africa’s Jewish and Muslim communities have condemned the killing of Halima Hoosen-Preston and the knife assault on her family at their home in Durban, in what appears to be an Islamophobic attack. (Cornel van Heerden/Gallo)
GENERAL ELECTION 2024

Surge in political assassinations sparks concern ahead of South Africa’s May elections

A total of 131 assassinations in 2023 were related to organised crime, the minibus taxi industry, political assassinations and personal killings

  • Lyse Comins
6 min read
Slipping grip: Control over the empire of Ralph Stanfield, who is in jail on charges of theft, robbery and fraud.
NICOLE JOHNSON

A new mob boss for the Mother City?

It is inevitable that alleged gang leader Ralph Stanfield will be replaced. The question is, by who?

  • Eunice Masson
9 min read
Gauteng experienced a notable 15% decrease in murders and a 9.9% drop in rape cases but kidnapping increased by 1.6% and sexual assault by 5.2%
GLOBAL INITIATIVE AGAINST TRANSNATIONAL ORGANISED CRIME

Kidnapping for ransom surges in South Africa

Criminals treat abduction and extortion as a business transaction and wealthy individuals increasingly insure against it

  • Lyse Comins
7 min read
Two of the continent’s premier game reserves – Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve and South Africa’s Kruger National Park – stand on the frontlines of species loss, working tirelessly to protect wildlife under the shadow of rising extinction threats. Yet they also reveal how different leadership approaches to park management can shape conservation success, advance inclusivity, and distribute economic benefit to local communities.
CORRUPTION

Corruption rife at Kruger Park – report

About 40% of law enforcement employees at the park are participating in corrupt activities

  • Eunice Masson
5 min read
The Madlanga commission has heard how police intercepted a tonne of cocaine shipped from Brazil to Johannesburg in July 2021
AUSTRALIAN CRIMINAL INTELLIGENCE COMMISSION

South Africa a cornerstone for cocaine transit and consumption – Global Initiative report

Nearly 350 000 South Africans used cocaine before Covid-19 in 2020, consuming about 18 800 tonnes

  • Eunice Masson
3 min read
Slavery: A border fence with Zimbabwe. South Africa is a destination for people kidnapped in other African countries. Photos: Paul Botes
GLOBAL INITIATIVE AGAINST TRANSNATIONAL ORGANISED CRIME

How to tackle the rise in kidnappings, human trafficking in South Africa

South African victims as well as people from the rest of Africa and Southeast and East Asia are taken to the Middle East, the US and Europe

  • Karabo Mokgonyana
6 min read
A top shot of a powder drug like cocaine in the shape of Guinea (Africa) with a rolled money bill.(series).Inspired by the world we do live in. Photo: Getty Images
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

Cocaine trade changes routes in West Africa to avoid armed conflict – report

The cocaine trade is the third most prevalent market in 14 countries in West Africa

  • Eunice Masson
3 min read
Status symbol: A cycad at the Royal Botanical Gardens in London. Three of South Africa’s cycad species are extinct in the wild with more than half of the 38 species at risk of extinction. (Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images)
CIVIL SOCIETY OBSERVATORY OF ILLICIT ECONOMIES IN EASTERN AND SOUTHERN AFRICA

Cycads are being ‘loved to death’ in South Africa

The plants are seen as a status symbol by wealthy local and international collectors, which drives the lucrative and well-organised illicit trade

  • Sheree Bega
5 min read
Realpolitik: The Taliban knows its population depends on income from the poppy trade. Afghan men surround bags of heroin and hashish as they negotiate and check quality at a drug market on the outskirts of Kandahar. Photo: Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images
AFGHANISTAN

Afghanistan’s poppy fields bloom

It is not clear yet whether the Taliban government will clamp down on the illicit trade

  • Eunice Masson
6 min read
As the Covid-19 pandemic continues in its second year, the global organised crime network remains rife. (Fadel Senna/ AFP)
COVID 19

Human trafficking is the most pervasive criminal market — global report

South Africa’s scores 4.5 out of 10 for human trafficking, the 2021 Global Organised Crime Index finds

  • Eunice Masson
2 min read
A pangolin skin is displayed amongst other exotic and illegal animal parts at a stall on February 17, 2016 in Mong La, Myanmar. Mong La, the capital of Myanmar’s Special Region No. 4, is a mostly lawless area where Chinese tourists are able to cross the border for exotic poached animals, gambling, and prostitution. (Photo by Taylor Weidman/Getty Images)
AFRICAN PANGOLIN WORKING GROUP

Pangolins pushed to the brink of extinction

The trafficking of scales is no longer a ‘niche’ criminal activity, but a serious and organised crime that threatens to make all eight species extinct within 20 years

  • Sheree Bega
7 min read
Primary target: Maputo is one of the kidnapping hotspots in the country. (Adrien Barbier/AFP)
AGOSTINHO VUMA

Kidnappings shake Mozambique’s business community

Impunity for the perpetrators has analysts worried that the trend of kidnapping businesspeople in Mozambique may grow

  • Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime
8 min read