East and Southern Africa is regarded as a central component for organised crime, which connects regional criminal markets to global networks. 

This was revealed in the Global Initiative report, which stated that the region serves as a thriving source, hub and conduit for a wide variety of illegal commodities.

These criminal syndicates operate from the shores of Somalia to border crossings and international air and sea points in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Namibia.

For example, heroin trafficked from Afghanistan via Pakistan and Iran, is shipped across the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean by boat before it is deposited in the northern Mozambique and Tanzania. 

There, according to the report titled “Mapping Organised Criminal Economies in East and Southern Africa”, it splits into two primary supply lines: One of higher purity bound for international markets in Europe and Australia, and another that is significantly adulterated and consumed in towns and villages across the East and Southern Africa.

According to the report, rhino is smuggled from Johannesburg and Addis Ababa, routed through Dubai and Doha and sometimes Paris and London to throw off law enforcement. 

Ivory departs in shipping containers from ports in Der es Salaam, Nampula and Durban, ending up in Singapore, Sihanoukville, Huangpu and Haiphong. 

Gold is mined illegally in Zimbabwe’s mineral-rich Kweker gold fields and deep shaft mines in the towns of Krugersdorp, Carletonville, Klerksdorp and Welkom in South Africa. It is processed and eventually laundered through Dubai. 

The report added that gold is also smuggled by the tonne into countries along the strife-torn Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)’s eastern border and laundered through Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

In the northern Mozambique and KwaZulu-Natal province, Islamic State-aligned insurgents and supporters have been implicated in criminal economies, gold smuggling, and kidnapping and extortion schemes to raise funds.

The region has attracted a coterie of international criminal players, according to the report. 

For instance, networks from China, Pakistan and Iran are known to interface with African intermediaries for drug trafficking (drug precursor chemicals, methamphetamine and heroin) and wildlife smuggling (notably of abalone and ivory). In Southern Africa, Nigerian and Congolese syndicates, often operating from hubs such as Johannesburg, coordinate regional drug distribution and financial fraud schemes while also connecting to global diaspora networks.

The report added that this chaotic mixture of different criminal commodities and networks is, in many ways, shaped by geography and coalesces around a spider’s web of regional hubs and economic centres.

Environmental, social and regional dynamics in hinterlands allow warlords and smugglers to thrive, while bustling trade hubs provide cover for clandestine flows and access to key transport links. 

“In urban slums, neglected towns and remote rural communities, criminal actors and parallel illicit economies rapidly fill the void left by an often absent state. Ancient trade and migratory routes over mountains and along rivers and coastlines that long pre-date colonial borders allow for the largely untrammelled movement of people and goods, both licit and illicit. This means many of these trafficking networks and criminal groups are found concentrated in certain illicit hubs,” reads the report.

Crime expert at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), Willem Els, added that poor governance is one of the reasons behind the challenges in the region and allows the situation to get out of control. 

“If you look at criminality levels, you will see that South Africa is number one in the region and number three in the continent. It is also number seven in the world. That means we created an environment that is conducive for organised crime to thrive. And one of the main factors is the State-embedded actors because none of these criminal syndicates can effectively survive without the protection of politicians and without the compromising of senior officials,” Els said.

He said South Africa is rapidly approaching a failed State scenario where the rule of law is completely crumbled. 

“South Africa is also suffering because of corruption, infrastructure, weak border controls and financial systems, and criminals are exploiting that,” he said. 

The report added that the Gauteng province is arguably the most significant organised crime hub in Southern Africa.

“As the region’s economic heart, with excellent transport links (notably airports and highways) and financial infrastructure, Johannesburg attracts many criminal enterprises. It is a crucial distribution centre for drugs (heroin arriving from East Africa and cocaine direct from Latin America or via West Africa) destined for local consumption or re-export.”

“South African law enforcement notes that domestic and foreign drug trafficking syndicates converge in Johannesburg – for instance, Nigerian networks base themselves there to manage Southern African operations and South Asian cartel operatives have been detected collaborating with local crime bosses.

“Johannesburg is also a central hub for human smuggling and trafficking rings: victims from poorer African countries (including Malawi, Mozambique and Lesotho) are brought to the city’s informal brothels and labour markets, while the city’s international airport serves as a transit point for traffickers moving people to Europe or the Middle East.” 

Cape Town, according to the report, is a hub for the narcotics trade, a market associated with gang activity, while Northern KwaZulu-Natal is a strategic location. 

“Weak border controls and existing criminal networks make it a prime hub for various forms of organised crime.”

manyane.manyane@inl.co.za

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