{"id":844883,"date":"2025-11-30T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=844883"},"modified":"2025-11-28T16:29:32","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T14:29:32","slug":"south-africa-has-worse-criminality-than-african-war-zones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/844883\/south-africa-has-worse-criminality-than-african-war-zones\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa has worse criminality than African war zones"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Africa Organised Crime Index 2025 revealed that criminality in South Africa is worse than in war zones like Sudan, Somalia, Mali, and Niger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The index is published by the European Union-funded ENACT programme and run by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other parties involved in the project are Interpol and the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark Shaw, Executive Director of GI-TOC, said their rich pool of information gives them an unprecedented overview of illicit economies across the continent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Criminal markets show considerable diversity across the continent. East Africa stands out for high human trafficking, arms trafficking and human smuggling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

North Africa leads globally in the cannabis trade, which remains illegal in many countries, and ranks second for financial crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Non-renewable resource crimes dominate Central Africa, the cocaine trade dominates West Africa, and the wildlife trade is most prevalent in Southern Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

State-linked actors drive organised crime in nearly half of African nations, with influence rated \u2018severe\u2019 in 48% of countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foreign criminal groups pose an increasingly significant threat across the continent and particularly in West Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2025 Africa Organised Crime Index revealed that organised crime has surged across Africa since 2019, while efforts to combat it have weakened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Almost all countries in Africa are characterised as having low resilience to organised crime, making them vulnerable to criminality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

23 countries are affected by the particularly devastating combination of high criminality and low resilience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most pervasive criminal markets are financial crimes, human trafficking, non-renewable resource crimes, the trade in counterfeit goods and arms trafficking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Africa\u2019s digital boom has also fueled a surge in cybercrime, particularly online financial fraud and ransomware, which is now on the rise in four of the continent\u2019s five regions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democratic countries are more resilient in their response, whilst authoritarian states tend to either embrace organised crime or suppress it with violent crackdowns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa has a serious crime problem<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

South Africa featured prominently in the report for its entrenched gangs, rampant fraud, embezzlement, and corruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report explained that rapid industrial development and urbanisation created an environment in which urban criminality began to increase in South African cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The increase in criminality was observed in all major cities, including Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, and Durban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As criminality grew, loosely structured street gangs proliferated. These were the forerunners of the more defined organised criminal groups that are present today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These gangs were involved in armed robbery, protection rackets, hijackings, and the smuggling of cannabis and other contraband.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the 1980s, more hardened, organised criminal gangs had formed, spurred on by social, economic and political dynamics within South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, organised criminal gangs, which the Index categorises as mafia-style groups, wield severe influence in South Africa\u2019s organised crime landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The increase in organised crime in South Africa has a severe negative impact on social and state structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The country is also a hotspot for the heroin trade. Northern KwaZulu-Natal\u2019s proximity to Mozambique facilitates cross-border smuggling of heroin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report noted that the Gauteng region, which encompasses Johannesburg, Pretoria, and surrounding towns, serves as a central distribution hub.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Cape Town, South Africa, heavily armed criminal groups involved in drugs and extortion wield considerable influence over neighbourhoods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their turf wars have resulted in chronic levels of bloodshed, resembling low-intensity armed conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa ranks second in criminality scores<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Africa Organised Crime Index 2025 revealed that South Africa ranked second in criminality in Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crime in the country was worse than in many war zones in Africa, including Sudan, Somalia, Mali, Niger, and the Central African Republic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rank<\/strong><\/td>Country<\/strong><\/td>Criminality Score<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
1<\/td>Congo, Dem. Rep.<\/td>7.47<\/td><\/tr>
2<\/td>South Africa<\/td>7.43<\/td><\/tr>
3<\/td>Nigeria<\/td>7.32<\/td><\/tr>
4<\/td>Kenya<\/td>7.18<\/td><\/tr>
5<\/td>Libya<\/td>7.05<\/td><\/tr>
6<\/td>Central African Republic<\/td>7.03<\/td><\/tr>
7<\/td>Uganda<\/td>6.65<\/td><\/tr>
8<\/td>Mozambique<\/td>6.63<\/td><\/tr>
9<\/td>Sudan<\/td>6.63<\/td><\/tr>
10<\/td>Somalia<\/td>6.55<\/td><\/tr>
11<\/td>South Sudan<\/td>6.42<\/td><\/tr>
12<\/td>Mali<\/td>6.33<\/td><\/tr>
13<\/td>Cameroon<\/td>6.18<\/td><\/tr>
14<\/td>Burkina Faso<\/td>6.03<\/td><\/tr>
15<\/td>Ethiopia<\/td>6.03<\/td><\/tr>
16<\/td>Chad<\/td>6.00<\/td><\/tr>
17<\/td>Niger<\/td>5.93<\/td><\/tr>
18<\/td>Tanzania<\/td>5.93<\/td><\/tr>
19<\/td>Madagascar<\/td>5.83<\/td><\/tr>
20<\/td>C\u00f4te d’Ivoire<\/td>5.78<\/td><\/tr>
21<\/td>Ghana<\/td>5.77<\/td><\/tr>
22<\/td>Liberia<\/td>5.65<\/td><\/tr>
23<\/td>Angola<\/td>5.62<\/td><\/tr>
24<\/td>Zimbabwe<\/td>5.55<\/td><\/tr>
25<\/td>Sierra Leone<\/td>5.42<\/td><\/tr>
26<\/td>Morocco<\/td>5.37<\/td><\/tr>
27<\/td>Egypt<\/td>5.30<\/td><\/tr>
28<\/td>Senegal<\/td>5.22<\/td><\/tr>
29<\/td>Togo<\/td>5.22<\/td><\/tr>
30<\/td>Benin<\/td>5.15<\/td><\/tr>
31<\/td>Guinea<\/td>5.05<\/td><\/tr>
32<\/td>Congo, Rep.<\/td>5.03<\/td><\/tr>
33<\/td>Algeria<\/td>4.97<\/td><\/tr>
34<\/td>Guinea-Bissau<\/td>4.88<\/td><\/tr>
35<\/td>Djibouti<\/td>4.85<\/td><\/tr>
36<\/td>Zambia<\/td>4.78<\/td><\/tr>
37<\/td>Burundi<\/td>4.73<\/td><\/tr>
38<\/td>Gabon<\/td>4.70<\/td><\/tr>
39<\/td>Tunisia<\/td>4.68<\/td><\/tr>
40<\/td>Gambia<\/td>4.58<\/td><\/tr>
41<\/td>Lesotho<\/td>4.52<\/td><\/tr>
42<\/td>Namibia<\/td>4.43<\/td><\/tr>
43<\/td>Mauritania<\/td>4.40<\/td><\/tr>
44<\/td>Equatorial Guinea<\/td>4.37<\/td><\/tr>
45<\/td>Eswatini<\/td>4.25<\/td><\/tr>
46<\/td>Mauritius<\/td>4.23<\/td><\/tr>
47<\/td>Botswana<\/td>4.17<\/td><\/tr>
48<\/td>Malawi<\/td>4.17<\/td><\/tr>
49<\/td>Cabo Verde<\/td>4.08<\/td><\/tr>
50<\/td>Eritrea<\/td>3.92<\/td><\/tr>
51<\/td>Rwanda<\/td>3.87<\/td><\/tr>
52<\/td>Comoros<\/td>3.83<\/td><\/tr>
53<\/td>Seychelles<\/td>3.65<\/td><\/tr>
54<\/td>S\u00e3o Tom\u00e9 and Pr\u00edncipe<\/td>1.80<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Africa Organised Crime Index 2025 revealed that criminality in South Africa is worse than in war zones like Sudan, Somalia, Mali, and Niger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":787046,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[24275,24276,24277,6843,24278,853],"class_list":["post-844883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-africa-organised-crime-index-2025","tag-gi-toc","tag-global-initiative-against-transnational-organised-crime-gi-toc","tag-interpol","tag-mark-shaw","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=844883"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":844884,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844883\/revisions\/844884"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/787046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=844883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=844883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=844883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}