Submitted by: Democratic Alliance (South Africa) 

Noting that: 

• South Africa still struggles with the legacy of apartheid with persistent poverty, inequality and violence. 

• According to the World Bank (202?), South Africa is the most unequal country in the world with race playing a determining factor, where 10 percent of the population owns 80 percent of the wealth.    
• There is, according to the World Bank, a positive correlation between inequality and criminality even controlling for other crime determinants. The scale of Organized crime and criminal networks in South Africa have proliferated in recent years placing it as the 19th worst in the world for criminality according to the Global Organised Crime index (GOCI) as  the ANC government has failed to sufficiently deal with the immense problem.  
• The declining capability of law enforcement agencies to enforce law and order has seen a sustained increase in crime across the board and a desperate sense of insecurity among South Africans. 
• Key sectors of the economy have come under severe attack from organised crime syndicates, from the construction, mining, transport and logistics sectors. 
• South Africa was recently placed on the financial greylist by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The greylisting of South Africa by the (FATF) is a damning indictment of South Africa’s criminal justice system and the government’s inability to combat financial crimes such as money laundering and terrorism financing.  
• State capture, which was the most notable incident of high-level corruption within the state, cost the country up to R 250 billion between 2014 and 2017, and reduced the country’s GDP growth rate by an estimated 4% a year. 

Believing that: 

• The inability of law enforcement agencies in South Africa and many other countries acrossother countries across the world. (The African continent has the second highest score of criminality score globally after Asia, according to GOCI) to contain the rising tide of organised crime is emboldening criminal syndicates and eroding these countries’ attractiveness as an investment destination.  
• South Africa continues to perform poorly on the Corruption Perceptions Index reported by Transparency International, scoring 43 points out of 100. 
• Affirmative action policies, namely Broad Based Economic Empowerment (BBBEE), has been used in some cases by the ANC government to implement its cadre deployment policy to enable the looting of state resources through legalised corruption. 
• The politicisation of law enforcement agencies in South Africa to fight the ANC’s factional battles in South Africa specifically, has compromised their ability to effectively fight crime and turn the tide against the criminalisation of the states.  
• Poor conviction rates of people implicated in corruption and organised crime has emboldened perpetrators and removed any deterrent to would be offenders. 

Considering that: 

• South Africa has robust anti-organised crime legislation and a strong legal framework but has failed in implementation of these systems.  
• The GOCI have rated South Africa’s resiliency against criminality at 5.98, higher than the global average of 4.82.  
• The South Africa judiciary is largely independent and free from corruption, however, the South African Police Service is tainted with mass corruption.  
• The current administration has instituted anti-corruption measures such as the Zondo Commission and has proposed the establishment of a new anti-corruption agency.  
• The President has been accused of wrongdoing in an ongoing police investigation in relation to how the US$4 000 000 that was stashed in a couch at his game farm, and subsequently got stolen, came to be in his possession. The level of criminality extends all the way to the office of the head of state. The President has failed to account on how the US$500 000 that was stashed in a couch at his game farm, and subsequently got stolen, came to be in his possession. His party, the ANC, has blocked any attempt to hold him to account in Parliament. 
• The level of impunity at state level has permeated to the wider society with individuals motivated by malice, encouraging community members to engage in illegal activities such as the invasion of vacant land. 
• Legitimate businesses in the construction and transport sectors are finding it hard to operate due to constant harassment from organised crime syndicates that are extorting money from them. 
• The institutionalisation of crime within the state is discouraging investment in the economy thereby contributing to further joblessness and worsening of the unemployment rate, which currently stands at 32.7%. 
• South Africa’s compromised law enforcement agencies and weak border management has led to an increase in cross border crime and the proliferation of cross border syndicates. 
• According to the Global Initiative on Transnational Organised Crime, up to 122 tonnes of cocaine is trafficked to SA annually and about 19 tonnes is consumed locally. This highlights the region’s growing role as a cocaine transit point. 

Calls for: 

• A complete overhaul of South Africa’s law enforcement and criminal justice system to ensure that they are truly independent to deal with organised crime and criminal syndicates. 
• Equality before the law by holding to account politically exposed individuals implicated in cases of corruption and ensuring that they face the full might of the law. 
• Providing adequate resources and support to specialised law enforcement agencies to root out organised crime syndicates that are operating with impunity in the construction and transport sectors. 
• Discarding the cadre deployment policy  which has been used by the ANC government as cover to loot state resources and compromise service delivery. 
• Inter-regional cooperation between South Africa and the rest of Africa to deal with the problem of cross border crime syndicates.