Africa and the Global Illicit Economy

Welcome to Underworlds with Mark Shaw.

Organized Crime is everywhere, hidden in plain sight. The stories from this world have been mythologised by Hollywood. But the reality can be even stranger and more exciting than fiction.

From the golden age of the American mafia (La Cosa Nostra), to the modern-day cocaine empires, and from the shadowy links between organized crime and terrorism, to the twilight of the Yakuza.

In this series Mark Shaw, the Director of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime delves into non-fiction books about organized crime and the illicit economy with the authors themselves. He asks questions about their background and investigations, but also the challenges associated in writing about this murky world.

Organized crime in South Africa threatens the economy, its people and the democratic institutions themselves.

Every day we see a number of different and seemingly unconnected criminal incidents taking place - from assassinations to gang rapes in an illegal mining community; and from the violence of the taxi industry to organized cooper theft.

But what lies behind all of these actions is a dark web, a criminal ecosystem driven by an increasingly violent South African underworld.

In this episode Steph Musho talks to Julian Rademeyer, the Director of the East and Southern African Observatory at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime about a new and substantial report called 'Assessing South Africa's organized crime risk'.

The Cape Flats in South Africa is made up of 20 suburbs make up the Cape Flats; populated predominantly by black and coloured communities, a term used to describe those of mixed-heritage. Each suburb is marked by poverty, crime, drug abuse, gangsterism and violence.

In this, Lindy Mtongana's final episode, she looks at the Grassy Park where a slew of recent killings has exposed the devastating consequences of territorial battles among the Cape’s most dangerous gangs.

Presenter: Lindy Mtongana

Guests:

Julia Stanyard, Senior Analyst, Observatory for East and Southern Africa, Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.

Lyndsay Connelly, a community organiser in Grassy Park.

Additional Links:

Civil Society Observatory of Illicit Economies in Eastern and Southern Africa - Risk Bulletin - Issue 25

The Global Organized Crime Index - South Africa

Global Assassination Monitor

Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime

Millions of Kenyans have cast their votes in the countries 12th General Election, labelled the most competitive election in the history of Kenya.

But as Kenya’s history has shown - the more fierce the political contest, the higher the risk of election-related violence, often carried out by gangs and militias at the behest of politicians, with the aim of influencing the outcome of an election.

In this episode Lindy will explore the role organised criminal gangs play in determining political outcomes.

Presenter: Lindy Mtongana

Guests:

Ken Opala, Field Network Coordinator for East and Southern Africa, Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime

Gregory Ochieng Onyango - a Kenyan activist and an artist.

Esther Njeri Kimani is the CEO of Art4Rights Kenya - a community based organisation in Nakuru that uses art to advocate for human rights.

Additional Links:

Resilience Dialogue - Safeguarding Kenyan elections from criminal interference is urgent

(Paper) The Politics of Crime: Kenya's gang phenomenon

GI-TOC Resilience Fund

The Global Organized Crime Index - Kenya Profile

Global Assassination Monitor

Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime

In this episode Lindy delves into the murky world of political assassinations in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Where, according to the GI-TOC's assassination monitor data, for three of the last six years, political assassinations were higher than all other South African provinces combined.

Presenter: Lindy Mtongana

Speaker(s):

Greg Arde, Journalist and Author of War Party: How the ANC’s political killings are breaking South Africa

Chwayita Thobela, Analyst, Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime

Thapelo Mohale, a shack dweller, and the secretary general of Abahlali baseMjondolo.

Additional Reading:

Eastern and Southern Africa Observatory - Risk Bulletin

The rule of the gun: Hits and assassinations in South Africa, 2000-2017

Give Us More Guns: How South Africa’s gangs were armed

Gun licenses for sale: South Africa's failing firearms control

Murder by Contract: Targeted killings in eastern and southern Africa

The Global Organized Crime Index - South Africa Profile

Global Assassination Monitor

Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime

In this episode Lindy explores the world of cattle rustling in Mali, an act that has existed for centuries. But cattle rustling has evolved into a highly organized form of criminality involving Islamists and bandits, forcing farmers to arm themselves to protect themselves and their herds.

Presenter: Lindy Mtongana

Speaker: Deo Gumba, Civil Society Coordinator for the West Africa Observatory, Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime

Additional Reading:

West Africa and the Sahel Observatory - Risk Bulletin

West Africa and the Sahel Observatory

Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime

The Drugs and Development Hub is an initiative that brings together researchers, academics, policymakers and people affected by drug economies to discuss new approaches to drug policy. The ultimate goal is to shift mindsets towards more socially conscious and public-health oriented approach.

This is the second episode covering the DDH. In this podcast Lindy sits down with a range of regional experts to discuss the issues.

Drugs and Development Hub Twitter

Presenter: Lindy Mtongana

Speakers:

Deborah Alimi, Independent Researcher on Drug Policy at Sorbonne University;

Chinwike Okerere, the Founder and CEO of the African Law Foundation in Nigeria

Maria-Goretti Ane, International Drug Policy Consortium in Accra, Ghana.

Monique Marks, the Head of the Urban Futures Centre at the Durban University of Technology, South Africa.

Additional Reading:

A Synthetic Age: The Evolution of Methamphetamine Markets in Eastern and Southern Africa

Drug markets in eastern and southern Africa: An overview of the current illicit drug economies and recent developments, drawing from the Global Initiative's ongoing studies in the country.

A Shallow Flood: The Diffusion of Heroin in Eastern and Southern Africa

A rising tide: Trends in production, trafficking and consumption of drugs in North Africa

West Africa's Cocaine Corridor: Building a subregional response

Global Organized Crime Index

In this episode, Lindy explores the case of Lual Lawrence Malong Yor, a South Sudanese businessman with a compulsion for flamboyant self promotion. But last year he was jailed in Uganda for masterminding a million-dollar fake gold scam. The Malong case is emblematic of a prolific problem in East Africa's gold Market. At the heart of these scams are criminal networks operating in Nairobi and Kampala, with connections in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Presenter: Lindy Mtongana

Speaker: Julius Kaka, Field Network Coordinator for East and Southern Africa, Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime

Additional Reading:

Civil Society Observatory of Illicit Economies in Eastern and Southern Africa - Risk Bulletin - Issue 24

Sudans Post - ‘Young Tycoon’ Lawrence Lual Malong sentenced to 6 years in jail over $1m gold scam

(GITOC Paper) Illicit gold markets in East and Southern Africa

The attack on Palma last year made international headlines but for five years, Mozambique has been the site of a violent insurgency. The armed jihadist group, Ansar Al-Sunna, has terrorised communities in the northern province of Cabo Delgado. It’s believed that more than 3000 people have been killed, and over 700,000 displaced.

Despite international recognition and a regional military response, the insurgency remains. In this episode of Africa and the Global Illicit Economy we explore the origins and drivers of the insurgency, whether there are links to the various illicit economies in northern Mozambique, and its security implications for the region.

Presenter: Lindy Mtongana

Speaker: Julia Stanyard, Senior Analyst, Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime

Additional Reading:

Civil Society Observatory of Illicit Economies in Eastern and Southern Africa - Risk Bulletin - Issue 24

Cabo Delgado: Africa's Forgotten Insurgency - Africa and the Global Illicit Economy

Insurgency and Illicit trade in Northern Mozambique - Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime

Scratching the surface: Tracing coloured gemstone flows from Mozambique and Malawi to Asia

Crime, conflict and corruption: Nampula as a smuggling hub

Abalone is a fairly innocuous little creature that fits in the palm of your hand. It's a type of sea snail found off the coast of South Africa, and abalone is also considered a delicacy in Asia.

It's been driven to near-extinction by massive levels of poaching, in a transnational criminal network that sees local, regional and international players compete for profits.

In this episode, Lindy speaks to Simon Haysom about a new report from the Global Initiative called Disrupting Abalone Harms: Illicit flows of H. midae from South Africa to East Asia.

Presenter: Lindy Mtongana

Speaker: Simone Haysom, Senior Analyst and Thematic Lead on Environmental Crime at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.

Additional Links:

Paper - Disrupting Abalone Harms: Illicit flows of H. midae from South Africa to East Asia.

Civil Society Observatory of Illicit Economies in Eastern and Southern Africa

Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.