SA’s crime pandemic and why we’re doing nothing about it
South Africa has some truly fantastic laws. It has an unrivalled constitution that enshrines rights and protections that other countries haven't even thought of. It has just, equitable laws on everything from sexual assault to property disputes. Unfortunately, though, it also has neither the willpower nor the manpower to implement and enforce those laws. There are plenty of good anti-corruption statutes on the books, yet few people employed to enforce them, and a court system too weak and dysfunctional to prosecute offenders. There are up-to-date laws on cybercrime, but no skilled personnel to fight it. There are gun laws, and good jurisprudence on violent crime, but too few police officers to even investigate all the cases registered. In short, while South Africa has excellent laws, its lack of enforcement capacity means that it also has a terrible crime pandemic raging at every level of society. – FD
ALEC HOGG: According to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Cyber-crime costs the global economy around $445bn every year, and this is through the damages caused to businesses through the theft of intellectual property to individuals from hacking through to all other types of Cyber-crime. Joining us now is Bernard Hotz from Werksmans. He's the Head of Business Crime and Forensics Practice at the attorneys. Bernard, before we go into Cyber-crime; yesterday, EY's global report on fraud came out. South Africa plunged in the ratings. We're now third in the world when it comes to perception of corruption and bribery. In fact, only Nigeria and Kenya are worse in the 59 countries assessed. The problem there though, is that we've fallen really rapidly in the last two years, since the previous survey was put together. Is this a perception or is it really happening on the ground?
BERNARD HOTZ: Firstly, we have to remember the difference between statistics, and what's actually happening out there, Alec. However, I do think that when we look at numbers and we see billions and trillions, and people start to get nervous then yes, unfortunately we are seeing…I call it a pandemic. There's a pandemic of crime in this country, whether it's Cyber-crime, white-collar crime, or corruption, we are currently in crisis. I've been saying this for quite some time. What needs to happen is…we have wonderful legislation. We really have top-class legislation, but we need law enforcement and we need prosecutorial authorities to be tackling this scourge with all seriousness. Unfortunately, what we're seeing is that the authorities are in the news for the wrong reasons. We're seeing infighting amongst the NPA. We're seeing problems within law enforcement. What is happening to the criminals out there? It's open hunting season.
ALEC HOGG: It's so interesting because there was an article on Business Day this morning that said we have the best labour laws in the world, which I think many people would dispute. They might be the best laws in the world, but the problem is they cannot be enforced. They're enforced on the one side (on the corporate side), but if you go on strike and people want to break the strike, there's intimidation. How do you enforce that? It's almost as if we have these great laws, but they can't be implemented or enforced. What's the point?
BERNARD HOTZ: The rule of law has to be sacrosanct, but you have to have people enforcing it. You have to have this zero tolerance towards crime. If you look at Cyber-crime as an example, it's actually quite sad because you have faceless criminals now. They're taking the beauty of technology and they're using the beauty of technology to commit the most unbelievable crimes.
ALEC HOGG: In South Africa as well?
BERNARD HOTZ: In South Africa as well.
ALEC HOGG: Give us some examples of things you've come across.
BERNARD HOTZ: You would have seen in the news a couple of weeks ago, where there was the arrest of about 12 people who are in the process of being extradited to the U.S. for being part of a Cyber-crime syndicate. What was encouraging there was there was joint cooperation between law enforcement authorities, through the U.S. authorities, through the South African authorities – an investigation that spanned approximately two years.
ALEC HOGG: What were the guys doing – the criminals?
BERNARD HOTZ: It's not necessarily, what they were doing, but the prime example is you might get an SMS on your phone, which says 'you're the lucky winner of the lottery' or you may get an email on your computer, which ostensibly, looks as if it's coming from your bank. It says 'please log on. We just need to verify your details'. The complexity of the Cyber-crimes that are being perpetrated is quite amazing and South Africans is there amongst it; it's not just the individuals who are being targeted, as we've seen from those figures – $445bn. I don't even know how many zero's one has to put after that, but the issue is that they're not just targeting individuals. They're targeting businesses. It's good business.
ALEC HOGG: Who is 'they'?
BERNARD HOTZ: You have organised crime syndicates who sit in … There was mention that some of them were sitting in Russia. You have syndicate sitting in Russia, who are perpetrating crime in relation to land, in Scotland. You have syndicates sitting in Nigeria. You have syndicates sitting in Canada and America. That's why this gang of 12 (I call them) have been extradited to the States, because the original complaint emanated from the States, and that's what we need. We actually need a combined commitment from law enforcement, to enforce the legislation of zero tolerance towards criminals. As you said, we have great legislation. We have to enforce it and people have to be brought to account before a court of law.
ALEC HOGG: Organised crime is big. I remember engaging with a friend – a fellow journalist – who's written a book entitled 'Illicit' and where he said that the organised crime around the world was bigger than some of the biggest corporations. I'd like you to think about that. We'll get to that in a moment.