The SA Police Service (SAPS) bosses have patted themselves on the back saying much has been done to address the crisis of extortion syndicates in the country, but MPs were disillusioned over the conviction rate they described as pathetic.
The national police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola, deputy police ministers Polly Boshielo and Cassel Mathale, head of crime detection Lt-Gen Shadrack Sibiya, head of detectives Lt-Gen Khosi Senthumule, Western Cape police commissioner Lt-Gen Thembisile Patekile and his Eastern Cape counterpart Lt-Gen Nomthetheleli Mene, among others, briefed parliament’s portfolio committee on police on progress made to curb extortion in SA.
Senthumule told the committee, chaired by DA MP and the party’s spokesperson on police Ian Cameron, that from April 2019 to March 2024 a total of 6,056 extortion cases were reported across the country, resulting in 2,389 arrests and 178 convictions.
Extortionists have penetrated crucial sectors of the economy including construction, transport, security, mining, informal businesses, municipalities and vulnerable communities.
Recent incidents include the murder of a school principal in KwaBhaca in the Eastern Cape by a gunman allegedly demanding payment. In a separate incident, thugs stormed the home of a nurse from the Efata School for the Blind in Mthatha and demanded payment of R50,000. The nurse refused and was robbed of his phone, laptop and television.
In the Western Cape, an informal trader from Kraaifontein was shot dead in a suspected extortion-related murder.
Road Accident Fund recipients have not been spared by the criminal rings. Crime-hit petrol stations and doctors’ rooms have closed shop in Mthatha.
Calls have been mounting for the government to take a harsher stance to stamp out the extortion ring as it has a negative effect on the struggling economy and compromised infrastructure development, investor confidence and service delivery.
Senthumule said some of the notable achievements included the formulation of a national strategy on extortion, hotlines have been established in the Western and Eastern Capes with a national one set to go live on Friday.
In the Eastern Cape, she said, a total of 1,525 calls were received, 37 cases reported and 11 enquiries registered since the inception, and in the Western Cape 71 calls on extortion were received from September 2023 to September 2024.
Members of the portfolio committee were unimpressed with the strategy in place and questioned the low conviction rate, with ACDP MP Kenneth Meshoe questioning why the police could not secure more convictions, while DA MP Dianne Kohler Barnard described the conviction rate as “pathetic”, arguing the extortion ring should have been nipped in the bud when it first surfaced almost a decade ago.
Masemola sought to explain, saying the challenge with extortion was that it was under-reported, with Sibiya adding some cases were withdrawn by complainants in court “where police have already put in all the work”.
Senthumule said communities under-reported cases for fear of victimisation. “This includes witnesses reluctant to provide witness statements or to testify as they fear for their lives. Complainants opt to rather obtain protection order instead of opening a criminal case [and] foreign nationals, when approached by the investigating officers for information, literally refuse to engage with the police officers nor to provide information,” she said.
“Where targets were identified as collectors of protection fee from the foreign-[owned] shops, the victims refuse to submit statements [and deny] that they are paying a protection fee.”
That crucial tender information, including amounts, was published in the Government Gazette was not helpful as this exposed those awarded contracts to gangs who extorted them.
Rise Mzansi MP Makashule Gana criticised the police presentation as being “very little” on detail, saying: “There is a loss of trust in the ability of police to protect communities ... the rise in mob justice speaks to the laws of trust.”
Mathale said: “We are responding to challenges facing us, in particular, extortion.... We will ultimately reach the desired stage. There are weaknesses [in the system] but we are not folding our arms. We will ultimately overcome.”
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