'Mafia Land' a snapshot of SA's dark economy

GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - The following book review is by local media and PR expert, Muriel Hau-Yoon, a founding member of the South African National Editors' Forum (Sanef). This livewire polymath (Google the meaning) lives in George and is involved in various activities for the greater good of the Southern Cape.

State capture and Gupta-gate has ushered in a feisty new generation of investigative journalists who are smart, courageous and helping to fill the vacuum in SA's floundering criminal justice system.

In recent weeks, a cornucopia of corruption blockbusters has spilled over onto local bookshelves. Hot on the heels of Jeff Wicks' Shadow State is Pieter du Toit's The Dark Prince, Kyle Cowan's Mafia Land and Pauli van Wyk and Micah Reddy's Malema.

Faced with an embarrassment of riches, I randomly opted for Mafia Land - Inside South Africa's Darkest Cartels - a tightly written compendium of the mafias, cartels and crime syndicates that underpin South Africa's 'dark economy'.

There is the tobacco mafia. The water tanker mafia. The taxi mafia. The hospital mafia. The construction mafia. The cash-in-transit mafia. Even the police mafia.

"Their bloodsucking tentacles reach deep into municipalities, state-owned enterprises, political parties, the police and even the National Prosecuting Authority. Those who resist are silenced in cold blood," reads the blurb on the back cover.

What is missing from Cowan's gripping inventory is the Road Accident Fund mafia, the loan shark mafia ... enough material for a follow-up book.

In fact, one wonders whether there are any areas of our fragile economy left that do not "feed off the vast web of patronage and extraction that stretches from street level to the highest echelons of government".

Mind-boggling facts and figures abound.

In 2009, illicit cigarettes held about 5% of the SA market. Today, that figure is closer to 50% - robbing the taxman of around R119b since 2010.

One of the most venal corruption premiums that SA taxpayers have had to pay is undoubtedly Eskom's Kusile Power Station near Bronkhorstspruit, which will have cost more than R240b to build - from the original 2007 estimate of R70b.

Chancellor House, an appendage of the ANC, was paid R97m in 'success fees' for awarding Eskom's Medupi and Kusile boiler deals to Hitachi, the Japanese conglomerate.

Kidnapping is reaching epidemic proportions. Between April 2013 and March 2025, 104 311 kidnapping cases were recorded by the police. In the past year alone, ransom demands amounted to a staggering R679m. High net-worth individuals are now urged to get kidnapping and ransom insurance.

A disturbing leitmotif creeps through each crime litany. Perpetrators slip through the criminal justice system like greased lightning. A case in point is that of Sipho M'Clean Mavuso, a suspected cash-in-transit kingpin who is nabbed red-handed by the police, but continues to roam free, despite 26 prior arrests.

Mafia Land provides a strategic snapshot of the current state of play among SA's sinister economy, helping us to interpret breaking news with a useful perspective.

Brave journalists like Cowan face ever-present threats of death and intimidation, and one gets the sense that the rapid publication of these spine-chilling exposés help in part to remove the sword of Damocles dangling over their heads.

Most importantly, this new genre of literature is creating a safe space for whistle-blowers whose anonymity can be guaranteed with utmost impeccability.

Mafia Land - Inside South Africa's Darkest Cartels is published by Penguin Random House.

The writer of this review, Muriel Hau-Yoon, with the love of her life, communication expert Joh Groenewald, who passed away in April 2020. Photo: Eugene Gunning