Introduction

While leaders in Southern Africa argue at regional summits about the need to develop closer economic integration among Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries, organised criminal groups have already succeeded in creating a free trade zone for illicit commerce in the region. According to Head of the Sub-Regional Bureau of Interpol in Harare, Commissioner Frank Msutu:

“There are very clear relationships and interlinking factors between crime syndicates operating in Southern Africa. It is not a secret to law enforcement agencies in the region that the criminals in the region have better co-operation links than the police officers. They seem to know who to contact at all times and budgetary constraints, foreign currency shortages, visa problems or governmental authority to travel do not control their movements.”

Market penetration

Interestingly, a recent survey conducted by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) indicates that organised criminal groups originating from within the various SADC countries, and not necessarily international criminal groups (such as the Russian Mafia or Chinese Triads) are behind much of the crime in the region. In the survey, police agencies from Southern African countries were asked to identify the three transnational organised criminal groups that constituted the most serious threat to their countries. The results are summarised in the table.

Overall, criminal groups involving South Africans and Nigerians feature as the most prominent. If only those groups from within SADC region are considered, however, then it would seem that South African, Zimbabwean and Zambian criminal groups have been most successful in developing a solid ‘market penetration’ in the SADC region. South African criminal groups feature prominently as far north as Tanzania and constitute a serious threat in each of the eight countries mentioned except in Swaziland. The rapid expansion of legitimate trade and investment from South Africa into other African countries has apparently been accompanied by a parallel growth in illegal activity.

Stolen vehicles

These syndicates deal in a range of illicit commodities, but thus far the most important has been stolen and hijacked motor vehicles. The ISS survey showed that in Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe, the theft and smuggling of motor vehicles constituted the most serious threat of all organised criminal activities. In Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Swaziland and Zambia, it was regarded as the second or third most serious threat.

The network of criminal groups specialising in trading stolen cars stretches across all SADC countries. Vehicles stolen in Namibia have been traced to Angola. South African stolen vehicles have been found in every SADC country and in counties even further afield. In addition to this outflow, a small percentage of vehicles stolen in the region, mainly luxury and 4 x 4 vehicles, find their way into South Africa. Throughout the region, stolen motor vehicles constitute a currency to pay for other illicit goods, such as narcotics or illegal firearms.

During 2000 a total of 100 647 motor vehicles and motor cycles were reported stolen in South Africa. In addition, police recorded a total of 14 999 cases of motor vehicle ‘hijacking’ (the taking of a vehicle from the driver through force or the threat of force). Thus, a total of 115 646 motor vehicles was channelled from legitimate ownership into the criminal market during 2000 in South Africa alone, most of which were taken by organised criminal groups. The police estimate that close to 50% of the vehicles reported stolen or hijacked are smuggled across South Africa’s borders to Southern African countries and beyond.

It is important to bear in mind that a considerable number of these vehicles may not have been stolen or hijacked at all, but were reported as such for the purpose of laying false insurance claims. For example, the Tanzanian police have complained that they are holding hundreds of vehicles reported stolen in South Africa but find some of the original South African vehicle owners reluctant to turn up to recover them. Tanzanian police investigations have shown that some of the original owners had sold their vehicles and then reported them stolen in order to collect from their insurance companies.

Common criminal market

The expansion of the ‘common criminal market’ in the SADC region has also occurred in the areas of armed robbery, dealing in narcotics, and the smuggling of firearms. Increasingly, organised groups from one country join those in neighbouring countries to commit serious heists or armed robberies. Two South Africans are presently opposing proceedings to extradite them to Namibia where they are alleged to have participated in the ‘Karibib heist’, a daring armed robbery involving N$5 million from a light aircraft that had just landed at a small air strip. Other similar robberies and heists, involving South Africans and Namibians, have occurred in Namibia. Swaziland and Lesotho have also experienced armed robberies involving South Africans. In South Africa, Zimbabwean criminal groups are increasingly linked to organised robberies, particularly in the Gauteng area.

The trafficking of firearms and narcotics is also a well-known regional phenomenon, with the conflicts in Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo ensuring that the erstwhile supply of firearms from Mozambique is continued from fresh sources. No SADC country is spared when it comes to illicit cross-border dealing in drugs and firearms. In Zambia, the police regard the illicit trafficking in firearms by organised criminal groups as constituting the most serious organised crime threat to their country. Malawi police regard the dealing in illicit firearms and armed robbery as among the top three most serious crime threats. South African police run regular operations to try and stem the smuggling of arms in areas bordering on Lesotho, Mozambique and Swaziland.

In short, criminals in the SADC region have joined together in a range of enterprises to create one common criminal market for themselves. This has implications for law enforcement agencies that have been operating under conditions where, in the words of Commissioner Frank Msutu, “the criminals in the region have better co-operation links than the police officers”.

The bottom line is that when organised crime has gone regional, the police response needs to be regional, and when co-operation among organised crime groups has increased, co-operation among police agencies needs to increase.

Police co-operation

It appears that significant steps are being taken to promote exactly this kind of collective activity. The SADC policing agencies have themselves taken initiatives to start developing effective regional responses to organised crime. In 1995, the police chiefs from various member states established the Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Co-ordinating Organisation (SARPCCO). Their main objective was to promote regional police co-operation in combating cross-border crime.

As part of this co-operation, at least nine joint regional police operations have been held in SADC member states since 1997. The joint operations confirmed the interlinking nature of the crimes and the co-operation between criminal groups from various countries in the region. For example, during ‘Operation V4’ – conducted in 1997 in South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Zambia – a total of 1576 stolen motor vehicles were recovered and many arrests made. The police established that the criminals involved with these activities could be linked to two very clearly structured crime syndicates. According to Msutu, both of these criminal groups were found to have “ascertainable links in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zambia, South Africa and Botswana”.

SARPCCO has also initiated regional co-operation in a number of other areas, such as training, the harmonisation of legislation, and the sharing of information. While resource constraints and the vast regions involved have meant that, at present, these efforts have not yet managed to provide a long-term deterrent to transnational criminal activity in the region, individual operations have been successful in the short-term.

For example, during 2000, SARPCCO introduced a SARPCCO Motor Vehicle Clearance Certificate in order to curb cross-border motor vehicle theft. This certificate had to be produced for every vehicle crossing national borders. For a while, it curbed the activities of criminal groups smuggling vehicles, but within a year loopholes and methods to circumvent the certificates had been found.

Conclusion

This example underscores the need for flexible and innovative approaches to combating the regional crime problem. Far more thought needs to be given to unorthodox methods of obstructing criminal commerce because conventional police operations aimed at arresting those involved will not increase the risk for organised criminal groups sufficiently to curtail their activities. Ingenuity and persistence will be required, as well as the ability to continuously adapt ideas and strategies and to develop new ones.

A two-pronged approach is essential: SARPCCO needs to continue to enhance regional co-operation in law enforcement, and efforts aimed at disrupting and undermining the criminal market need to be advanced. The most effective international best practices need to be taken on board in these ventures.

From the point of view of the legitimate businessperson or investor, the legitimate market and a flourishing criminal market can never be easy bedfellows. While a flourishing business sector does not necessarily undermine a criminal market, the opposite is certainly the case. When the criminal markets expand, investor confidence is negatively affected, the formal market becomes skewed, production costs are increased, corruption becomes common practice and normal safety and security is undermined. Increased national and regional efforts to combat organised crime will be necessary to prevent the criminal market in the SADC region from consolidating, and criminal groups from achieving further market penetration. If this does not happen, attempts to dislodge them will become even more difficult in future.