Tue, Apr 21, 2020 page6

• Murders drop after S African gangs call truce as lockdown stifles narcotics trade

  • Bloomberg
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  Gangs in South Africa, which has one of the world’s highest homicide rates, have agreed to a ceasefire during a nationwide lockdown that has caused a slump in narcotics supply and demand — with an unprecedented drop in murders as a result.

  A network of gang leaders across the country’s nine provinces, known as the Council, have made funds available to members of the groups until June so they can feed their families during the shutdown, which aims to prevent the spread of COVID-19, said Welcome Witbooi, a former gang member who mediates between gangs, local communities and the police in the Western Cape Province.

  “When our government announced the lockdown regulations, everyone started panicking about health, but also about business prospects,” Witbooi said in an interview. “We had a meeting with the Council and with them we decided to put out a national call to all gangs to cease fire.”

  

  A South African National Defence Force soldier patrols the streets in Yeoville, Johannesburg, on Sunday during a joint operation between the force and the South African Police Service to enforce a national lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

  Photo: AFP

  Some gangs are even trying to “rebuild the relationship with the community” and are handing out food parcels to residents, he said.

  South Africa’s lockdown, which started on March 27 and is due to last until the end of this month, is among the strictest in the world.

  Dog walking as well as alcohol and cigarette sales are prohibited, planes are grounded and most land and seaports have closed.

  That has not only slashed demand for drugs, but all but halted business with the Serbian, Chinese and Nigerian criminal networks that South African gangs usually work with, Witbooi said.

  Cape Town is South Africa’s epicenter of gang activity and a key conduit for heroin trafficking, the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime has said.

  Gangs are also involved in human trafficking, protection rackets and trade in other drugs, including crystal meth.

  The heroin trade alone is estimated to be worth at least US$260 million a year.

  South Africa has Africa’s highest murder rate, with an average of more than 50 people killed each day, and has consistently ranked among the 10 most violent countries in the world.

  Gangs were blamed for many of the 3,974 murders recorded in the Western Cape Province in the 12 months through March last year and the army was deployed to curb a surge in killings. In normal times, the province’s murder rate is about 58 per 100,000 people, compared with a national average of 36, police data showed.

  The national homicide rate has dropped dramatically. Murders declined 71 percent in the week after the restrictions were imposed, to 94 from 326 in the same period last year, South African Minister of Police Bheki Cele said on April 5.

  Cases of assault with intention to inflict grievous bodily harm plunged 83 percent, to 456 from 2,673 last year.

  Cele has credited the liquor ban with bringing crime down and says he would like to extend it.

  While it is positive that there are fewer killings, criminal networks have almost certainly switched to a thriving black-market trade in cigarettes and alcohol, said Andrew Whitfield, the opposition Democratic Alliance party’s shadow police minister.

  “There’s a lot of money to be made for the gangs during the lockdown,” said Whitfield, whose party governs the Western Cape Province. “It’s a lot easier for gangs or organized crime to bolster their coffers from the illicit trade than it is to go out and shoot at each other — just because there is a big police and army presence in the streets.”

  “There is a general consensus that crime has come down, this includes gang violence,” police spokesman Vish Naidoo said. “We cannot say that this is because of a truce or a ceasefire, as they are saying — we are confident that the precautions that has been put in place to stay indoors have heavily contributed to the reduction in crime, and as a consequence gang violence.”

  Witbooi said it is due to the instructions from the gang bosses.

  “No one will pick up a firearm now and shoot a rival gang member because they know that the Council is very strict when they impose something like this and will come down on you like a ton of bricks,” he said.
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