'Only 7% of people charged for extortion' convicted in past five years

Only 7% of people arrested for extortion were convicted in the past five years.

Police say this is because a significant number of complainants withdraw their cases because they are either too scared to continue prosecuting the extortion mafia or lose interest along the way.

This was revealed during the briefing of the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) in parliament on Wednesday. According to police, between April 2019 and March 2024, 6,056 extortion cases were reported across the country, resulting in 2,389 arrests, with only 178 convictions secured.

The briefing comes amid concern about extortion gangs which have forced businesses to pay protection fees or to close in recent months.

Deputy national police commissioner Gen Shadrack Sibiya pointed out that the low conviction rate was because of complainants withdrawing cases.

“Let’s take, for example, one financial year, from April 1 2023 to March 31 2024. You see that 319 suspects were arrested and there were 151 convictions — not a small number. However, what we need to focus on is that a significant number of cases are withdrawn by the complainants either before the case reaches court or even during court proceedings,” Sibiya said.

“You will have complainants who withdraw their cases after the police have done their work, coming to court and saying, ‘I no longer want to proceed.’ For example, once a complainant has completed their project or achieved their objective, they lose interest in pursuing the case, even though the police did their job.”

He added that the arrest numbers will never align with convictions.

“So, the number of cases reported and the number of convictions do not necessarily have to align perfectly. It doesn’t mean that if you arrest 6,000 people, you should expect 6,000 or 5,000 convictions. There are challenges in between,” said Sibiya.

In the North West province, for instance, police said 215 extortion cases were reported, leading to 125 arrests ... but no convictions were secured.

Police officials acknowledged internal issues were hindering their fight against extortion.

National police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola said the growing problem of extortion is influenced by underreporting.

“The problem starts from when a tender is advertised, because then it has all the information of who is the contractor, how much the project is worth, making them vulnerable. In construction, most stakeholders are aware that they should make provision for 30% local sourcing. However, that is a problem because there is nobody who really looks after or adjudicates as to a specific contractor that comes into a place,” said Masemola.

Police management said extortion has spread across multiple sectors and provinces, with Gauteng, the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape identified as hotspots. Gauteng recorded the most cases, with 2,284 reported incidents, followed by the Western Cape with 1,476.

To counteract extortion, Masemola said the police have set up toll-free reporting lines in two provinces, with plans to launch a national hotline. These efforts have already led to some arrests.

However, committee members questioned whether the toll-free lines would yield results, given that similar systems had always existed.

The presentation noted the emergence of criminal syndicates across various sectors, including construction, transportation and small businesses. Major mining companies such as Anglo American and Glencore have faced demands for lucrative procurement contracts.

“In the transportation sector, taxi associations extort scholar transport operators, demanding a share of earnings. Municipalities are also affected, with syndicates storming boardrooms during tender meetings to intimidate officials into awarding contracts,” the presentation read.

After the presentation, key concerns were raised by the portfolio committee members.

They stressed the need for proper consequence management within the police force, stating: “We need to make sure that the soldiers fighting the war are fighting for the right reasons.”

Committee members also questioned whether the police were losing the battle against the construction mafia, asking why it seemed they recognised the problem only after it had grown.

The police officials present asked for the benefit of the doubt. Masemola said they are doing as much as they could with the resources available.

“We have about 153,000 police personnel, which serves as our primary resource for combating crime. Unfortunately, we receive no external assistance. To address infrastructure destruction and extortion, we established economic infrastructure task teams several years ago.

“Regrettably, our capacity is limited, and sometimes we're forced to stretch our existing resources. This constraint means we lack additional support. Essentially, we're left to manage with our current capacity, and it's a challenge,” said Masemola.

The report highlighted recent arrests from July of this year. There were arrests made in the North West of individuals attempting to extort companies like Liquid Telecoms.

In KwaZulu-Natal, police cracked down on syndicates disrupting infrastructure projects in areas such as Umsunduzi and Inanda.

In Mpumalanga, a criminal group known as “Kwagga 20" was arrested on suspicion of violent crimes, including murder and extortion.

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