By Odwa Bafana Mkentane
Crime expert Mike Bolhuis says South Africa needs a highly specialised unit fundamentally like the CIA and the FBI equipped with the best cyber units and infrastructure to tackle organised crime and racketeering in South Africa.
The proposal comes after an alarming 170 people were murdered and 100 wounded in the ganglands of the Western Cape in the last two weeks. This is despite the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) being deployed in the province.
“This represents the pinnacle of global criminality; remember, organized crime and racketeering combine every conceivable form of illicit activity. It involves a network of businesspeople, corrupt police officers, corrupt municipal and government officials, local security firms, and individuals within mobile network operators and banks. It is a fully integrated machine operating in unison handling arms trafficking, drug trafficking, human trafficking, kidnapping, carjacking, shootings, killings, and turf wars. It all falls under the control of a single operating group that has established a notorious reputation: speak out, and you die. This effectively silences whistleblowers, while the police are rendered ineffective unable to perform their duties because the criminal element acts with impunity, simply because they can, “said Bolhuis.
The numbers include children under the age of 18, with more than 20 being either wounded or killed, with the dominating areas such as Nyanga, Khayelitsha, and Mitchells Plain showcasing double digits for fatalities.
Photo: Pixels
