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South Africa: We Are Going Down, the Mexico Way
Democracy Works, 21 February 2021
SA is rapidly going down the way of Mexico, where the criminal underworld, cartels and gangs have terrifying power and have brazenly created no-go zones, defied laws and violently… Read more »
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South Africa: Underworld Suspect Shot Dead - One Week Before Scheduled Court Appearance in Cape Town for Murder
Daily Maverick, 3 February 2021
In December 2020, police announced they had arrested three suspects - Mark Lifman, Jerome 'Donkie' Booysen and William 'Red' Stevens - in connection with an August 2017 murder.… Read more »
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South Africa: Clampdown Upends Underworld - Three Suspects Arrested in Connection With a Global Steroid Smuggler's Murder
Daily Maverick, 23 December 2020
In August 2017 Brian Wainstein, also known as the Steroid King, was assassinated in his Constantia home in Cape Town. His killing led to four arrests and the surfacing of a series… Read more »
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South Africa: Cele Welcomes Arrest of Underworld Organised Crime Suspects
SAnews.gov.za, 23 December 2020
Police Minister Bheki Cele has welcomed the arrest of three possibly high ranking figures of the criminal underworld, allegedly linked to an ongoing "extortion racket" of… Read more »
South Africa at Tipping Point Over Power of Underworld Players?
According to William Gumede of Democracy Works, the nation is "rapidly going down the way of Mexico" due to the power and influence of the criminal underworld. By comparing South Africa to the central American nation, Gumede believes that "cartels and gangs have terrifying power and have brazenly created no-go zones, defied laws and violently attacked police forces without being brought to book." Activities of criminal syndicates have been documented in recent years and included the 2020 murder of Anti-Gang Unit section head Charl Kinnear who investigated the alleged illicit gold and diamond dealings of the 'Gauteng mafia', the 2018 assassination of prominent defence advocate Pete Mihalik who sought to resolve a "turf war" involving tit-for-tat shootings and assassination attempts between rival gang factions in Cape Town, and the protracted trial of suspected underworld kingpin Nafiz Modack who faces multiple extortion charges.
InFocus
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A team dispatched to Cape Town by Police Minister Bheki Cele is investigating who in the South African Police Service (SAPS) gave the order to remove protection from the home of ... Read more »
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The killings of Lieutenant Colonel Charl Kinnear and Sergeant Thabile Mapoma have sparked outrage across the South African Police Service. Lieutenant Colonel Charl Kinnear was, at ... Read more »
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Prominent defence advocate Pete Mihalik has been shot and killed outside Reddam House School in Cape Town where he was dropping off his eight-year-old son. According to News24's ... Read more »
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Suspected underworld kingpin Nafiz Modack and some co-accused in his extortion case have had difficulty reporting to police stations. Despite it being stipulated in their bail ... Read more »
Cape Flats communities have little faith in the ability of the police to combat rampant gangsterism (file photo).
