The Criminal State: How Gangs and Corrupt Officials Rule South Africa’s Underworld

A powerful new report has laid bare a terrifying reality in South Africa: the line between the state and the underworld has become dangerously blurred. The 2025 Africa Organised Crime Index reveals that the country is in the grip of “state-embedded criminal actors” who work hand-in-hand with local and international gangs to control a vast illicit economy.

This isn’t just about street-level crime. It’s about police officers supplying illegal firearms, government officials facilitating multi-million rand tenders for criminals, and political assassinations being used to secure economic interests. The legacy of state capture has left institutions so hollowed out that they have become fertile ground for criminal infiltration.

The Usual Suspects with Unusual Allies

The report confirms the dominance of long-established gangs like the Americans, Hard Livings, and Sexy Boys in the Western Cape, who have expanded from drug distribution to extorting businesses in retail, hospitality, and construction.

But their power is magnified by their connections. The report highlights “collusion between mafia-style actors and law enforcement,” with some officials providing protection or even supplying state-owned firearms to gang members. This explains the relentless gun violence in areas like Cape Town and Durban.

Prison gangs, particularly the Numbers gangs, continue to coordinate major criminal operations from inside their cells, demonstrating a shocking level of reach and impunity.

The “Construction Mafia” and International Networks

A disturbing trend is the rise of the “construction mafia”organized groups that use intimidation and violence to infiltrate building projects, demanding a cut and causing massive delays and cost overruns. This isn’t petty crime; it’s a direct attack on the country’s economic infrastructure.

Meanwhile, South Africa’s criminal landscape has gone global. The report details how:

• Nigerian groups run drug trafficking rings.

• Mozambican networks are behind high-profile kidnappings.

• Chinese nationals are implicated in wildlife trafficking and copper theft.

• Zimbabwean actors dominate the illicit tobacco trade.

These foreign syndicates don’t work in isolation; they actively collaborate with local networks, leveraging their resources to expand their reach.

A System Designed to Fail

The most damning finding is that South Africa’s response is “largely reactionary.” While the country has good laws and policies on paper, enforcement is crippled by weak borders, inadequate witness protection, and corruption within the very institutions meant to fight crime.

As one expert noted, the reality of “highly organised contract killing for hire” is a destabilizing force in South Africa’s political economy. When the people tasked with protecting the public are in league with the criminals, the very foundation of the state is undermined. This isn’t just a crime problem; it’s a fundamental crisis of governance.

{Source: Timeslive}

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