SARS estimates that illicit trade costs the South African economy R100 billion annually, depriving the country of taxes (R250 million annually) and resources, while contributing to instability and low economic growth. Alcohol, cigarettes, counterfeit electronics, pharmaceuticals, food and apparel, besides fishing and mining related products are the main commodities affected. It is believed that police officers are bribed and provide protection for smugglers at Dragon City in
Centurion and China Mall in
Midrand, while
Marabastad, Pretoria, has been highlighted as another smuggling hub. or wash bays. The smuggling of many stolen vehicles to neighbouring countries is facilitated by corrupt border control officials. Other purportedly stolen vehicles are "cloned", sold and reintroduced into the system. or the engines may be cut from the boat. As in other countries,
catalytic converters are stolen from cars as they may fetch R4,000 to R20,000 a piece, whilst on farms, tractors and harvesters are stripped of their electrical wiring by copper thieves. A significant portion of tracks, stations and train parts have been stripped by criminals looking for scrap metal. In 2021, the Brenthurst report found that two-thirds of the overhead cables that covered more than 3,000 km of track had been stolen and that the rail network was on the verge of total collapse. Gauteng, the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal are the worst affected provinces, and the cost of rebuilding is estimated at R4 billion. Drones, high barrier walls and facial recognition technology have been proposed as preventative measures.
Metrorail services bypass many halts or stations due to their unsafety and the effects of vandalism and theft.
Arson during 2016–2018.
Prasa collected information about train arson attacks since 2015, and stated that losses of some R636 million were incurred due to train fires from 2015 to January 2019. 71%, or losses totaling R451.6 million rand, occurred in the Western Cape, besides damage of R150 million to
Cape Town Station. This entailed the burning of 214 train coaches, 174 in the Western Cape, and the remainder in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. Cape Town's fleet of 90 trains was reduced to 44, and only one suspect was arrested. Some replacement trains acquired at R146 million each could not be insured. Police ombudsman J.J. Brand found that the SAPS failed to prevent, properly investigate, or successfully prosecute those responsible. In 2019, teenage boys (aged 14 and 15) were identified as the arsonists who torched 18 carriages worth R61 million, while the torching of 24 carriages at
Bloemfontein in 2020 was also ascribed to loitering youths. One aspect of xenophobic violence is the torching of trucks driven by foreigners on main routes – the depredation flared up along the
N3 route in April 2018, before spreading to other provinces. and 54 protesters and opportunist looters were arrested. Coordinated attacks during November 2020 targeted many freight trucks on the N3 and
N12 routes. The attackers managed to loot and destroy 35 trucks
Parys-
Sasolburg respectively. Truck drivers were shot at, with some injured and one killed. 25 people were arrested.
Faiez Jacobs pointed out that arson cripples the entire value chain of the community‚ with many people unable to go to work‚ losing a day's pay‚ and ultimately losing their employment, which in turn causes social upheaval and adds further burdens to their community.
SATAWU has noted that labour strikes that are called by unidentifiable persons have been associated with incidents of arson.
Explosives Organised crime syndicates smuggle blasting cartridges across South Africa's borders, especially from
Zimbabwe, and their unsuspecting mules deliver these to criminals. The explosives are used to bomb ATMs, rob cash-in-transit vehicles, for
illegal mining operations, or more recently as a tool of extortion during robberies. The Explosives Act of 2003 and its supporting regulations have not been implemented as of 2021, and law enforcement relies on the outdated Act 26 of 1956 and regulations that were only superficially updated since 1972. These regulations do not place mandatory obligations on tracking and tracing of explosives, meaning that legal consumers are not prosecuted when their explosives are lost or stolen. It shows an upward trend and is inter-related with organised crime and
money laundering. Thousands of disused or active mines attract illegal miners, also known as zama zamas, due to unanswered socio-economic inequalities. The estimated 30,000 illegal miners are organised by some 200 criminal syndicates (as of 2022) which infiltrate industrial gold mines, where they employ violent means Losses in sales, tax revenue and royalties are said to amount to R21 billion per annum, while physical infrastructure and public safety are compromised. Output in excess of R14 billion of gold per annum has been channeled to international markets via neighbouring countries. The greater part, over 34 tons of gold between 2012 and 2016, was smuggled to
Dubai, UAE. At times construction contractors rent out their
haul trucks and
excavators to syndicates who then proceed with
open-cast mining in contravention of the
Environmental Act. Mining companies which operate from no fixed address may also submit fraudulent applications for mining licences, by for instance plagiarizing the required
EIA. Unregistered operators of precious metal refineries are charged with illegal possession of unwrought precious metals under the Precious Metals Act, cyanide pollution under the Environmental Act, and their equipment and raw materials are seized. The Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act of 2002 acknowledges artisanal miners, but an overhaul of the act has been proposed. The
Council for Geoscience and
Department of Mineral Resources are jointly responsible for rehabilitating the 6,000 abandoned mines in South Africa (600 around Johannesburg alone). They are barely making headway, and don't expect to close all abandoned shafts before 2039.
Livestock and produce theft Livestock theft is prevalent and increasing in all provinces of South Africa, but the
Eastern Cape, where gangs of thieves openly target marginal farmers, has the highest number of cases. Some 70,000 head of cattle to the value of R1,3 billion are stolen annually, while sheep farming has been abandoned in some areas due to the prevalence of theft. Livestock theft is often motivated by greed, and organized theft which bags a large number of animals at a time is on the rise, representing about 88% of these thefts in 2019. and it is claimed that crime prevention has yet to catch up with the
modus operandi of syndicates. Since 1996, ARC's Animal Genetics Laboratory in
Irene, Pretoria, assists the SAPS in about 500 cases per annum where DNA matching may provide identification, determine parentage or resolve ownership of stolen livestock or poached game. Since 2015, theft of
avocado and
macadamia produce has shown an upward trend which affects smallholder as well as large scale farmers. Locally avocado fetches up to R25 per fruit in 2020, while macadamia, of which South Africa is the largest producer, fetches up to $25 per pound internationally. During the autumn harvest season, producers consequently rely on costly round the clock security measures to dissuade thieves. Single opportunists besides organised syndicates are at work, which via middle men supply a thriving black market. Grain producers are sometimes conned by
silo operators that issue fraudulent silo certificates, which may misstate the quantity, quality and/or location where grain is stored, with resultant financial losses for the producer.
Housebreaking With 1.1 million South African households (5.7% of the total) experiencing a home break-in during 2022–23, housebreaking is the nation's most prevalent crime. The South African Government defines housebreaking as a home invasion while a house's inhabitants are
not present, so it is not to be mistaken for home robbery, which is characterized by a home invasion while people
are in the residence. Approximately 51% of housebreakings were reported to the police, a decrease from 2021 to 2022's report rate of 59.2%. The Governance, Public Safety, and Justice Survey (GPSJS) noted that most break-ins occurred outside major metropolitan areas. Home robberies impacted about 195,000 South African households, 57% of which reported the incidents to the police—a decrease from the 66.4% of cases reported during 2022–23. Gates, fencing, man-hole covers, paving stones, filling material of road embankments, metal sheeting, any copper objects (which fetches R80/kg), brass water meters, street lights, pipes, bathroom taps and parts of statues are stolen, and smaller items are whisked away in
wheelie bins in broad daylight. Proposals to prevent these crimes include; installation of CCTV cameras, raids on scrapyards, closure of illegal scrapyards and daily updates of theft statistics. This reduced the city's annual financial loss due to
copper theft from R22 million to under R500,000. Municipal land may also be sold illegally by incumbent or self-appointed council agents. In 2010, 33 fraudulent land transactions were uncovered by the Johannesburg city council.
Power grid , Gauteng A 2021 estimate placed losses due to cable theft at between R5 billion and R7 billion annually. The
eThekwini,
Tshwane,
Ekurhuleni,
Johannesburg and
Nelson Mandela Bay metros in particular are pillaged by criminal syndicates and subsistence thieves, while conviction rates hover around 4%. Likewise
Telkom,
Eskom and
Spoornet each report thousands of cable theft incidents annually, Cable theft from train stations has endangered passengers and brought services to a standstill in parts of Gauteng and the Western Cape. Hundreds of millions of rand is lost to vandalising of street poles and theft of newly installed equipment such as supply cables and
aerial bundled cables. Mini-substations, pole transformers, Cape Town experiences equipment damage and theft that impacts the electricity supply to residents, communities and road users, and results in almost constant outages in some areas.
Electricity theft Illegal connections to the power grid is a common problem in major centers. As of 2020, illegal connections in
Soweto alone causes
Johannesburg's City Power R3 million in losses daily, besides
Roodepoort,
Midrand and even the upmarket Waterfall Estate. Not only households, but many businesses and even a church have been found to steal electricity. Some
property developers deliberately connect
smart meters illegally, fail to register meters during construction, or divert power temporarily during and for the construction process. In addition to private premises, there are syndicates that focus on defrauding
Eskom. Payments meant for Eskom may also disappear in the pockets of municipal workers.
Fuel theft Fuel worth over R100 million is stolen annually from
Transnet's pipelines, and evidently sold by unlicensed retailers. Drone technology, tactical deployments and intelligence gathering are implemented to curb the trend. Many vehicles have been seized at crime scenes, but the conviction rate of perpetrators remains close to 0%. Similarly, drivers of fuel delivery vehicles are bribed to make partial deliveries, i.a. by forging invoices, or to mix coal fuel with worthless material.
Diesel theft in particular is a widespread problem which affects
Eskom’s ability to operate gas turbines during peak electricity demand.
School plunder and vandalism Schools are seen as easy targets for thieves looking for laptops, computers, data projectors, photocopiers, cameras and cash, though fencing, electrical equipment, gas cylinders, filing cabinets, desks and stationery are also stolen. Strategies to prevent burglaries include access control, upgrading of security gates, fences and burglar bars, CCTV cameras, 24-hour security and alarms linked to armed response. Local protests, whether due to lack of service delivery or other reasons, regularly result in arson or vandalism at schools. During one week in 2018, four schools were set alight in
Mpumalanga province, while over R300 million in damage was caused to 148 Gauteng and
KZN schools during
2021's unrest. Student protests at tertiary education facilities likewise cause millions in damage. Criminals have also targeted teachers and school personnel.
Drug smuggling and consumption South Africa has become a consumer, producer and distributor of hard drugs. The trend is driven by
urban decay, criminal overlordship in marginalised communities, homelessness and police corruption,
Tik made its appearance in 1998, and the first laboratory was seized in the same year. Popular drug combinations that include heroin, are
nyaope, sugars and unga. At least since 2011, consignments of
cocaine have entered South Africa through various, often smaller, ports such as
Saldanha,
Mossel Bay or
Knysna. It was distributed by the
28s gang in the
Cape Flats, which up to 2019 had a handler with international connections. Since the 1990s operatives of international drug cartels have made South Africa their home, and have carried out a slew of internecine assassinations. They are believed to launder foreign drug money, run extortion rackets, trade in illicit goods, and have succeeded in corrupting senior policemen and government officials. Police and investigating agencies are often sidetracked by arresting smaller cogs in the underworld machine, while the kingpins manage to fly under the radar.
Cigarette smuggling South Africa, which allegedly has the biggest illegal tobacco trade in the world, became a signatory to the
WHO protocol against tobacco smuggling in 2013. Some 30% to 60% of cigarettes in South Africa are smuggled (compared to 10% internationally), which deprives the country of some R8 to R12 billion in annual revenue. Tobacco warehouses are exempted from surveillance, The contraband originates in
Zimbabwe, while
Namibia,
Mozambique and
Eswatini serve as transit routes. Smugglers consider it a softer crime than drug trafficking, with less severe punishment for offenders. Legal consignments are regularly stolen by armed gangs, or diverted from their intended delivery destinations.
Trade in protected species South Africa is a party to
CITES, the aim of which is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. Vulnerable species in the South African context include the
bush elephant,
white and
black rhinoceros,
ground pangolin,
abalone, certain
whale species,
Encephalartos cycads and valuable
succulent genera such as
Conophytum. In reptile laundering, animals caught in the wild are presented as captive-bred. Trade in
poached reptiles affects
small adders, tortoises, lizards (
Cordylus and geckos) and
dwarf chameleons, which all fetch very high prices internationally. Detection dogs have been useful in locating wildlife products in luggage, and DNA analysis is employed to determine where such products originated. The identification of
DNA markers that would distinguish between captive-bred and poached reptiles is in an early stage of development.
Cultural artifacts Trade in, or vandalism of certain
cultural artifacts are contraventions of the
National Heritage Resources Act, and only a fraction of conserved items are inventoried. but relied on incomplete statistics, starting 1990. In the five-year period from 2012 to 2016, some 2,665 pieces from altogether 30 heritage institutions were reported lost or stolen. Due to their age and rarity, heritage items may fetch high prices, but are completely non-renewable. Many military artifacts from the early 20th century have been stolen, including invaluable
ceremonial daggers,
swords and medals, which could be traded anywhere in the world. It was reportedly the third heist by a suspected international syndicate that targeted valuable Asian porcelain pieces in museums. In 2016, various pieces of gold jewelry from the
Thulamela archeological site, on loan from
Ditsong Museums, were stolen from the museum in
Skukuza. Heritage experts were outraged, and expressed concerns about
Mapungubwe artifacts displayed at the
Mapungubwe Interpretation Centre, which are on loan from
Pretoria University. Various institutions and museums have subsequently cut back on the simultaneous display of heritage items.
Cross-border crime and corruption Fifteen landward sub-units of the
SANDF are deployed on the borders with
Zimbabwe,
Eswatini,
Mozambique,
Lesotho,
Botswana and
Namibia to safeguard these against transnational crime, international crime syndicates and cartels, the illegal flow of undocumented migrants and illicit economic activities. Deportations of illegal immigrants at the
Beitbridge border post were said to be a waste of money and a vicious circle due to the amount of bribery engaged in (R500 per
illegal immigrant) by police guards and border officials. Additional roadblocks have been effective in stopping many who bribed their way through the first checkpoints.
People smuggling of illegal
South Asian immigrants is much more lucrative however, as airport officials and ground crews have conspired to form syndicates that net R60,000 per client. The South African
Department of Home Affairs subsequently warned South Africans not to sell their identities to illegal immigrants. According to
A21 and the
Trafficking in Persons Report, South Africa has become an important source, transit as well as destination country for
human trafficking, with large sections of its population being vulnerable to its depredations. == Organized crime ==