Dr Christian Ani: The black axe and law enforcement in SA

Nigerian confraternities operating in South Africa have become mired in transnational organised crime. In this interview with Chris Steyn, Dr. Christian Ani of the ENACT programme at the Institute for Security Studies in Abuja, describes their modus operandi in South Africa - and reveals their links to law enforcement officials. "There are...five dominant ones, with the Black Axe the most prominent... But you need to know that the group is highly connected. They have highly-connected members who have been able to compromise key security teams. So sometimes, they get police officers to do their bidding...they have a way of having a sway on security officials when necessary.” Cybercrime is one of the prominent crimes that the group is linked to. Dr Ani describes the targeted interventions needed to unravel the complex criminality association with these groups that were originally university-based movements advocating for liberation and social justice, but has now become entrenched with violence..Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here..Watch here.Listen here.Edited transcript of the interview.Chris Steyn (00:02.116)Nigerian confraternities operating in South Africa have become mired in transnational organised crime. We get the details from Dr. Christian Ani of the ENACT program at the Institute for Security Studies in Abuja. Welcome, Doctor. Christian Ani (00:19.416)Thank you very much for having me. Chris Steyn (00:21.766)Firstly, what is the origin of these movements? Christian Ani (00:26.35)Thank you very much. So the Black Axe Network is part of the several Nigerian confraternities that have come up since the 1950s when we had the Pirates confraternity as the first confraternity led by Africa's first Nobel Peace Prize winner, Wole Soyinka. And then afterwards, in the 1970s, we now have a number of other confronternties coming up. And Black Axe is one of them, also called the New Black Axe, New Black Movement of Africa, was one of them. And when that emerged, it was coming at the heels of trying to propagate social justice. It was at a time when Apartheid was going on. If you remember, it was just when the students were killed at the massacre of 1976. So for them, they were like feeling all boistrous and students lets actively support where we can. But also they had other local issues that they were also dealing with. You know, there is issues of elitism within the university set up at the time. The older confraternities were kind of, you know, very exclusionary. So this Black Axe coming within that those set up wanted to also create its own stance and also say that, you know, it's liberal. Every other person can join if they do want to join in. So that's how the movement started up as a social movement within the university set-up as a youth activist kind of set-up. Yeah, things happen along the way that kind of derail the movement's trajectory. Chris Steyn (02:22.492)What happened for that to happen? Christian Ani (02:25.87)So two things. One was that, you know, as I said, there were a number of confraternities that emerged. So they were all vying for rivalry among themselves. You know, they kind of sought to establish their dominance and relevance and to ensure that, you know, they are the most preferred confraternity in any case. So they began to recruit people in a more liberal manner. And people were now saying that, you know, some of the people that I have interviewed, they say that it's that liberal recruitment that created room for, you know, some rogue elements to get in. In the past, people were recruited to confraternities based on academic excellence and high academic performance. It continued to be the case, but then became more liberaliaed. That is one. And then the second aspect is that within this ecosystem of confraternities, what then happened was that culture of violence, violence scripting, they use violence to of propagate their ideas and to show that they are the force to reckon with within the university campuses. And you also need to remember that it's within a time when Nigeria was facing the military coups. We had a lot of military dictatorships. For some analysts, it's kind of normalised violence in many ways and kind of shows that violence is the most preferred way of engagement in society. So that is where the challenge began to emerge. Chris Steyn (04:07.93)What crimes are they now linked to here in South Africa? Christian Ani (04:11.982)So in South Africa, they've been linked to a number of crimes, including things like, especially cybercrime. Cybercrime is one of the prominent crimes that the group is linked to. For instance, in 2021, this came to fore when about eight Black Axe members were arrested in Cape Town. And then also there have been several arrests, over 20 arrests, both in Cape Town and Johannesburg and across South Africa, linking them to the Black Axe. The Cape Town case involved a huge network of the Black Axe that was operating not only in South Africa, but also the network in Europe and also in the US. They all teamed up to orchestrate these activities. Most of the activities were romance scams, while others were business email compromise scams that they were involved in. But then a number of members are also involved in issues like drug trafficking, and then others have also been reported to be involved in human trafficking when necessary. There are some cases of people who claim the’re money doublers and then fake sangomas where necessary. But there's a nuance to it though that the Black Axe is not actually organising it, sitting as an organisation and leading these crimes. The organisation does not wake up and say, let's go and scam so and so. The organisation doesn't do that. Within the hierarchical structure, the organisation does not do that. Within the Constitution, when you look at the Constitution, it's a very legitimate constitution that looks at the welfare of the people who are members and also looks at the welfare of other people, humanitarians, looking at how to support people across board. But then what happens then is that due to the culture of violence that was now, that have pervaded the confraternities… Christian Ani (06:32.674)…they use that as a protection racket to support whoever it is. So now criminal entities who are more vocal and are much more powerful have been able to leverage that, you know, culture of violence that have become very pervasive within the group to, you know, kind of seek their protection. So whenever they have a challenge within the criminal underworld, they come and then bring it over to their confraternities and say, OK, I have these social challenges. I have these issues with some members and social members. How do you, I need help… And they go to provide that help. And it can be several ways. One, it can be, you know, use of violence to intimidate the opponents. It can be the use of violence to also, you know, take out an opponent in some cases. You know, and they have a large network, you know, across the globe. So the arms of the the network will get to you at some point. So so there have been cases of people who committed or went into rivalries with the Black Axe group, maybe in Nigeria. And then they come to South Africa. You know, the group here in South Africa will get to to to to engage those people. You know, and it's also most of the rivalries is within those confraternities themselves. …several confrontatilities operating here and across the globe as well. So if they do a deal, for instance, they collaboratively do a romance scam. And you know that these camss involved a huge network. You you need large network of people to orchestrate some of the money transfers that are going on. So if one of the persons that is involved in the crime or is involved in the activity decides to renege on sending the share that is supposed to send to a member of the confraterity then that is a security guarantee that that person has to now call up his members and say, OK, this and this happened to me. Christian Ani (08:55.862)And it's happened to me by a fellow member or by another confraternity group member or from anywhere it is. And then that's how then they do the engagement and then they try to sort it out for the individuals. And secondly, they can also, you know, provide Legal. They provide legal support to their members, for instance, some of the members in Italy, for instance, were in were in legal quagmire problems, they donated funds to support the member, which is good. It's part of what associations do sometimes. But in some cases, there's that awareness that a member is involved in this and this and that, but they still stand up for their member to protect their member when necessary. Chris Steyn (09:45.99)Do we know how many confraternities are operating in South Africa at present? Christian Ani (09:52.91)So I wouldn't, there's no fixed number to it, but I will say at least you have about five strong confraternities operating, you five dominant ones. For instance, if you're talking of, you know, the Black Axe that is operating, you know, you have the Vikings that is operating as well. You have ….You have groups like the Buccaneers as well that are operating and also … that are operating within the country. You know, that rivalry that persists within them. In Johannesburg, especially this year, there's been several cases of rivalry between some of the group. It can just emerge erupt because of business deal gone wrong between Black Axe and the Vikings. And it starts from the individual level, as I explained earlier on. It comes from the individual or a small network group of individuals, then quickly escalates into an entire confraternity crisis. So that's how it has been playing out here. Chris Steyn (11:09.916)Now you have probably been following the Madlanga Commission of Equiry and the Ad Hoc Committee hearing in Parliament in which we have been hearing testimony about corrupt cops, cartel bosses and captured politicians. Are they linked in any way to this police capture? Christian Ani (11:35.758)Yeah, so for now, directly in terms of the name, there was a name that also circulated at some point. For now, some of those from fact checking, some of them did not actually appear in terms of being a part of confraternities and things like that. But you need to know that the group is highly connected. They have highly connected members who have who have been able to compromise key security teams. So for instance, look for an example, there was a time there was issues between the Durban zone, you know, there are several zones, you know, when you have the confraternities, you also have several zones operating. So in Durban, for instance, there's a zone, in Johannesburg, there's also a zone, you know, and then Ekurhuleni, there's also a zone. So sometimes, they get police officers to do their bidding, for instance. If they have issue with one of the confraternities member, they kind of report on that person and say, okay, this person, so-so person is harboring drugs or so-so person is doing this and that. And they get the police officer to go and then search the other person. And then vice versa, the other person can also go and get his cronies who are part of security officials to do the same to the other person. So in many ways, you see that they have a way of having sway on security officials when necessary. And then also you see that there were some case, for instance, the Tinder swindler who defrauded about 500,000 USD from a South African lady sometime in 2022, he was arrested in 2022. In that case, he offered BMW cars, you know, and offered several cars to the people, to the police officers that arrested the individual, you know. But then it just shows that because the case was already out there and also the officials that went there were not corruptible, that kind of....Read more:.Willem Els: Operation Catalyst nets 83 terror-funding suspects.Christian Ani (13:51.822)But I'm just giving these examples to show that some of the individuals that are involved are highly connected and they also have good resources that could sway the moral compass of law enforcement agents. Chris Steyn (14:05.34)Do you know whether they also have high-level political connections? Christian Ani (14:11.022)Not really. I don't have specific connections to that beyond the rumours that have been linked to it. But if it's in terms of that, there is high likelihood. But I'm not in confirm for now. Chris Steyn (14:30.278)Have you seen reports on the confidential report drawn up by our Crime Intelligence organisation on the Nigerian drug lords in South Africa? They named many of them as the Pablo Escobar's of South Africa. Are they linked to the co-fraternities? Christian Ani (14:47.266)Yeah, so it takes a while to sometimes because they're a little bit secretive, their individual names. So it takes a while to actually know who belongs to where. So it might not be the Black Axe, it might be…if they don't belong to…,then Buccaneers or Vikings in that way. And then it takes a while, a little bit of profiling to do that. But, you know, there have been several people that have been arrested and because doesn't know much about confraternities and all that. Whoever has been arrested, they just say, OK, Nigerian national is arrested, which is OK. Then sometimes actors, for instance, in the US, in Europe, are beginning to know that it's not just a blanket assumption that, it's Nigerian. But then to dig deeper and check which confraternity does this person belong to, you know, which group does this person belong to? And it comes from asking questions and then doing the investigation, drawn out investigations beyond just saying, an individual has been arrested. And then that is the case. But then there are two dynamics. There are different dynamics through it. First, things like cybercrime. Sometimes it's easy to find it out because you go through computers, you follow the trail of communications and then see this person has several networks that they're engaging with in Europe and things, you can find some information that might lead you to the Black Axe. And they do that digital forensics. But things like human trafficking, drug trafficking, for instance, they don't have those, they don't really go into, they're just looking at, which human being are you holding captive, you know, which drug are you trading, you know, without really saying, okay, yes, we know you're into this, but then what are some of the networks that you have, you know, to better dig deep, to get into understand that. So in actual fact, most of the cases that we have in South Africa, you know, that are linked to Black Axe or other different confraternity, the cases originated from the US. Christian Ani (17:10.742)You know, very few cases, one or two cases originated from South Africa that they actually identified that this person belonged to this and that confraternity. So then that makes it very difficult to to kind of, you know, know how you tailor and engage even the confraternity. For me, I always say that you have to engage the confraternities themselves because they claim they are a open and humanitarian organisation and that is open to for social justice and support to people. So they should be also open to supporting investigations on their members who are part of criminal networks. Chris Steyn (17:54.576)They sound globally extremely powerful, Dr. Ani. It's not possible to dismantle these confraternities by the sound of it, is it? Christian Ani (17:59.298)Yeah, they are. Christian Ani (18:06.764)Yeah, as in they are everywhere. We're talking about across the continents, across all the continents, maybe not Antarctica, but then across. We have a full list of them, of the groups, and which zones belong to where. And they are highly expansive, and they're a very, dominant group. And sometimes, for instance, in South Africa or Johannesburg zone, for instance, you see up to or more than 200 members participating in one zonal meeting. So it just shows that they are a force to reckon with. But then also, in terms of dismantling, in terms of how based on the research that we have done, that is not just a mere thing of saying, let's go and dismantle the group….or let's just go and find all the group members. But if they're able to use the idea or the knowledge of law enforcement agents, use the knowledge of the confraternities, then you can dismantle the syndicates, the criminal syndicates operating within the group and who are now feeding into that protection racket that I spoke to you about in that way those criminal syndicates are relying heavily on the protection racket that is being provided by these confraternities. And in some cases, some members are not involved in crime. We have lawyers, we have doctors, we have politicians. We've been, if it's in Nigeria, you have law enforcement agents who are part of this group. So when we would speak about dismantling, you know, sometimes it's not just, it's not a blanket thing about, let's get this and this. But then by being member to large extent is because of the oath of secrecy and all that the group has, a lot of members could be drawn into, you know, crime if necessary, whether knowingly or by omission, you know, by not reporting cases of crime or things like that by their members. Christian Ani (20:23.342)So I'll leave it at that, that it's not just about let's go and dismantle the group, but let's do the first engagement of, let's engage the group because they are there in the open. You can find them if you need them. If you want to find them, you get them engage them and say, okay, if you want to clean slate, let's begin to work with us to...fish out the criminal elements that is there. And they have been doing a lot, well, not a lot, as in more reactive actions in terms of suspending some members that have been openly declared as members so that they kind of say, okay, no, we are also saying no to it, but they don't do it before the fact. They do it only after the fact. But if there's no association to any Black Axe or anything to the member, they don't suspend. They just leave it as that and then let the case lie. So, but then if you begin to engage these members and get them to understand that if they want to rebrand themselves, then this is what they could do to support law enforcement. Chris Steyn (21:36.7)So what you're saying is the criminal elements that have hijacked or are abusing the confraternities have to be extracted with the cooperation of the confraternities themselves and that is the solution. Christian Ani (21:53.74)Yeah, and it's very difficult. I'm not saying because you know how criminal syndicates work. They walk up their way up to the highest level of leadership. So for instance, when you go to Cape Town, for instance, the eight members that were arrested in Cape Town, they were high level officials, you know, but they were operating within their own syndicate structure, not necessarily getting everyone involved in the crimes that they were doing, but operating within their highest syndicate structure. So that whenever anything happens, they're able to easily mobilise and say, oh no, we have a problem as a confraternity. This group or that group or that individual is threatening a member. Let's rise up and stay. And you know how networks work. The higher you are in a state of position, the higher the ability you have for you to mobilize people who are necessary. So I'm not saying it's easy in any way to say, OK, no, let's just go after the criminals in the game without . Then you leave the bigger structure. No. You engage all the structures, and you get to find out, fish out the bad elements. And over time, the ones who are willing to be more cooperative and engage in humanitarian activities and who are also within lines of good profession, they can continue to exist and operate legitimately, either within confraternities, if they choose to, or outside that confrontation. Chris Steyn (23:35.482)Dr. Ani, you arrived from a Abuja in South Africa this morning. What are you here for? Christian Ani (23:41.09)Yeah, so tomorrow we have a workshop trying to look at these Nigerian confraternities in South Africa and then to look at the dilemma or the puzzle that we're in around whether they're a criminal enterprise, which some people tend to ascribe to them, or they're a brotherhood, to get a better sense of how do we begin to understand these confraternities and how do we engage them without sending them underground, but also dealing decisively with the criminal aspects. Chris Steyn (24:16.998)While you're here, will you have a chance to engage with the confraternities personally? Christian Ani (24:23.694)Yes, sometimes I do, but through some specific individuals who are willing to engage. But also it's always a cautious activity. Some of the members tend to feel like when you speak about them, it's a crime or it's not a good thing to speak about them that you're bringing negative press to them. But obviously they also understand very clearly that their members have put syndicates operating within those confraternities have put a bad light to how they operate and what they do. So how do we begin to engage them on a regular basis? Chris Steyn (25:12.732)It's a very complex issue, isn't it? Christian Ani (25:15.264)It is a highly complex issue. So tomorrow I hope to unpack it much more, as in the meeting starts at 11. And also it's online on the ENACT and the Institute for Security Studies website. So I'm hoping to unpack it clearly for our audience tomorrow. Chris Steyn (25:19.324)Okay. Chris Steyn (25:37.798)Thank you. I'm looking forward to that. That was Dr. Christian Ani of the ENACT programne at the Institute for Security Studies in Abuja, speaking to BizNews about the operations of confraternities in South Africa. And I'm Chris Steyn. Thank you, Doctor.

Dr Christian Ani: The black axe and law enforcement in SA

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