Willem Els: Terror funding and organised crime thriving on poor governance

Billions of rands are being sent out of South Africa annually to fund terror activities. In this interview with BizNews, Willem Els of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) dissects the nexus between organised crime and terror funding. “Organised crime can do without terrorism. They can live without terrorism, they can survive without terrorism, but terrorism cannot survive without organised crime and using them.” He notes that neither group can operate with impunity without high-level protection either. “And in South Africa, the prevalence of your State-embedded actors on a very high political level and on operations level is way above the average for Africa.” Nel lists poor governance, limited resources, and limited use of technology as the reasons why Africa has become such a hub for terror financing. He outlines what measures South Africa will have to take to get off the Grey List later this year - and what it would have to do to prevent relisting. He also gives a run-down on recent terror-related cases, and describes the implementation of Sharia Law in Johannesburg, and the use of assassinations and extortion by an ISIS-linked to raise funds for terror.

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Edited transcript of the interview