An Assessment of its Nature and Origins

This 1998 report by the Institute for Security Studies assesses the nature and origins of organised crime in South Africa, tracing its evolution from domestic street gangs to sophisticated transnational networks. It examines the impact of political transition, the role of state corruption, and the shift in police strategies from incident-driven responses to intelligence-led operations.

• During the 1980s, organised crime in South Africa expanded significantly, though it was not a policing priority because state resources were focused on national security and countering political opposition to the apartheid government.
• South African organised criminal organisations typically differ from American 'mafia' models; they generally lack rigid structures and instead rely on loose, shifting networks and alliances of criminals.
• The political transition of the early 1990s created a conducive environment for the growth of organised crime due to the weakening of state structures, relaxed border controls, and the influx of foreign criminal groups.
• In April 1991, the South African Police officially recognised organised crime as a key factor in high crime rates and established an Organised Crime Unit and Organised Crime Intelligence Units (OCIU) to shift toward proactive, intelligence-driven investigations.
• Cross-border crime in the 1980s often involved a barter system where stolen South African motor vehicles were smuggled to neighbouring states in exchange for drugs, particularly Mandrax.
• Corruption within the police force has been a critical enabler of organised crime, with some officers providing false clearance certificates, leaking docket information, or actively participating in smuggling syndicates.
• There is a significant 'sophistication gap' between low-level street gangs, which are often territorially bound and engage in petty crime, and high-level syndicates like 'The Firm' or Nigerian networks that operate as wholesalers with substantial capital.
• Nigerian criminal organisations have established a dominant position in the South African cocaine market through a network of small, autonomous syndicates that pool resources to import drugs from South America.
• The report identifies a trend of 'freelancing' among skilled criminals, where individuals with specific expertise, such as document forgery, provide services to multiple syndicates simultaneously.
• The report argues that South Africa must shift its strategy toward 'targeting upwards' by focusing on the proceeds of crime and money laundering, rather than just targeting low-level operators.

APA

Institute for Security Studies (1998). An Assessment of its Nature and Origins. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/Mono28.pdf

Chicago

Institute for Security Studies. An Assessment of its Nature and Origins. 1998. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/Mono28.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Institute for Security Studies |title=An Assessment of its Nature and Origins |date=August 1998 |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/Mono28.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{instituteforsecuritystudies1998assessment, author = {{Institute for Security Studies}}, title = {{An Assessment of its Nature and Origins}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {1998}, month = aug, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/Mono28.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }