Cape Town - The DA has launched an “Anti-Extortion Plan for South Africa”, listing a number of ways in which the party believes would make inroads in combating extortion and prevent threats and intimidation, and sometimes fatal consequences facing sectors and communities.
The five-point plan was outlined and led by MP and chairperson of the portfolio committee on police Ian Cameron, DA MP and DA national spokesperson Karabo Khakhau, DA MP Lisa-Maré Schickerling, and DA MP Dianne Kohler-Barnard, during a media briefing at Parliament, yesterday.
Khakhau said: “Extortion is a criminal tax system on honest businesses and we cannot sit back and do nothing about that. It doesn’t just start with the CBD night-time economy, but it goes all the way to an illicit firearm economy, a construction mafia economy, an illicit drug economy, a taxi extortion economy, a township extortion economy, and all of these have webs of networks involved in armed robberies.”
Of the 6 056 extortion cases reported nationally between April 2019 to March 2024, 2 389 arrests were made; however, only 178 convictions were secured. This represented only 7% of people arrested for extortion who were convicted over the past five years.
The Western Cape saw the second-highest number of extortion cases, with 1476 cases reported over the period from April 2019 and March 2024. Of those cases, 683 arrests were made and only 36 convictions secured.
Cameron said the plan would be presented to the police minister.
“This is a proposal of what can be done. It’s also been adopted as official policy of the DA. When we set it up, we went and looked at different successes, we spoke to people on and off the record in the police or that recently left the police, specifically that focused on organised crime, and that gave their input. Obviously, we also spoke to senior members of, for example, different metro police units in the country and so to different prosecutors that could give input on this.”
The five-point plan covers:
*Centralised intelligence gathering and analysis: for the creation of a specialised hub to collect, analyse, and disseminate intelligence on extortion activities.
*Enhanced community reporting and support mechanisms: this aims to foster stronger partnerships with communities and businesses to improve intelligence gathering, encourage reporting, and support victims.
*Targeted operations and disruption of syndicates: utilising intelligence-led policing to identify, disrupt, and dismantle extortion syndicates at their roots.
*Proactive prevention and early intervention: this would see public education, predictive policing, legislative reforms and early intervention for the prevention of extortion.
*Improved prosecution and legal frameworks: to ensure efficient prosecution and strengthening of legal measures to deter and punish extortion.
Schickerling said: “The administration must be streamlined through online electronic reporting and capturing platforms and systems. Crime reporting must be made easier.”
Cape Argus