ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The substance of this monograph is based on a survey on organised crime completed with the assistance of nine national police agencies in the Southern African region. The Institute for Security Studies undertook this task as part of a two-year research project to study various aspects of organised crime in the SADC region. Financial support was provided by the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA), the European Union and the Hanns Seidel Foundation. The ISS is indebted to these organisations for their generous support.

The survey was conducted among police agencies in the Southern African region by way of a standard, fairly lengthy, questionnaire. For understandable reasons, police agencies anywhere in the world seldom show any enthusiasm when requested by an outside body to complete lengthy questionnaires. In Southern Africa, with its resource constraints and its overwhelming challenges to curb crime, an even greater reluctance might have been expected than would have been the case with well-resourced police agencies in developed countries that often have the luxury of large research components within their own ranks. To their credit, nine of the eleven police agencies completed and returned the questionnaires. This is an outstanding result. It illustrates a level of concern about organised crime in the region and a willingness to address it, which is very encouraging.

The support and co-operation are therefore gratefully acknowledged of the chiefs of police and staff of the national police agencies of Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The senior police officers who were appointed by their police chiefs to serve as liaison persons for the project were, without exception, always helpful and supportive. A survey such as this is impossible to undertake without such co-operation. It is hoped that the police agencies which contributed will find the outcome of some use.

Particular appreciation should be expressed for the chairperson of the Southern African Police Chiefs Co-ordination Organisations (SARPCCO) in 1999 and 2000, Commissioner E E Hillary of the Royal Swaziland Police. During the early phase of this project, he not only provided encouragement and support, but went out of his way to address a letter of introduction to all SARPCCO chiefs of police to inform them of this project and to express his support for the research.

Peter Gastrow
Institute for Security Studies
Cape Town

EUROPEAN UNION