Surging rates of murder, extortion and kidnapping are among signs that crime is posing an \u201cexistential\u201d threat to South Africa, according to a report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.<\/p>\n
The murder rate has risen 38% since 2010, the number of kidnappings for ransom has quadrupled, and there is an R187 billion ($10.6 billion) annual impact from infrastructure theft such as the looting of copper-power cables, the Geneva-based group said in a report released on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
It said all these are signs that the state is struggling to contain criminal activity.<\/p>\n
\u201cOrganized crime is an existential threat to South Africa\u2019s democratic institutions, economy and people,\u201d Mark Shaw, the director of the group, said in an introduction to the 206-page document.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt often lies behind and connects numerous seemingly disparate criminal incidents we see occurring in South Africa every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
GI-TOC, as the group is known, places the blame on the country\u2019s apartheid history, which has resulted in poorer, formerly non-White areas being neglected by the state.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s been exacerbated by the weakening of state institutions during the nine-year rule of former president Jacob Zuma, who his party ousted in 2018.<\/p>\n
While Zuma has denied wrongdoing, the current administration has said at least R500 billion rand was stolen during his rule. State corruption became entrenched and public procurement budgets were looted.<\/p>\n
\u2018Unprecedented Foothold\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Zuma\u2019s rule was \u201cone driven by personality and personal interests,\u201d GI-TOC said. This resulted in political appointees to key positions at state companies, resulting in \u201cpatronage networks, which in turn helped facilitate grand-scale corruption and enabled business and organized crime to secure an unprecedented foothold in the state apparatus.\u201d<\/p>\n Organized crime in South Africa ranges from heroin and cocaine trafficking to people-smuggling, rhino poaching and the stripping of metal from state power, water and transport companies.<\/p>\n Pipelines are targeted and syndicates demand contracts from mining and construction companies, which they are paid for but don\u2019t fulfill.<\/p>\n Other issues include a surge in vigilante killings and a surge in cash-in-transit robberies. Cybercrime is also on the rise, with South Africa becoming the biggest location of internet-protocol addresses used for digital extortion in Africa. Gold and platinum are illegally mined or stolen and sold illicitly.<\/p>\n The murder rate is currently more than 40 per 100,000 citizens and over 10,000 people were kidnapped for ransom in the most recent year assessed, GI-TOC said, citing government data.<\/p>\n \u201cSouth Africa faces a complex, hybrid criminal threat. Having originated in highly constricted conditions under apartheid, in three decades organized crime has spread across the country and forged links across the world,\u201d the group said.<\/p>\n \u201cLeft unchecked, organized crime will continue to seriously impair South Africa\u2019s reputation and development.\u201d<\/p>\n
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