Money and Marginalisation: The Lost War Against Abalone Poaching in South Africa

ABSTRACT

This article investigates the link between state capacity and the abalone poaching industry in South Africa. We argue that poaching can be traced back to the architecture of the apartheid state in South Africa and the lack of development in marginalised communities. This marginalisation continues today and the penal system used as a tool to supress social mismanagement has not been effective. The poaching industry involves a number of actors and the process is both organised and transnational, with Asia the primary end market. However, it is argued that it is not correct to blame ‘the other’ (Asian crime groups and markets) when dissecting the increase in abalone poaching. To focus solely on criminal groups and to see the criminal as an outsider from society and a dangerous member of a distinct racial and social group disregards history and the policies of the state which are contributory factors to ongoing poaching. Given the size of the market, flexibility of organised crime and the states lack of legitimacy and capacity on a local level, there will be a sustained continuation of poaching.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The purpose of this article is not to provide a literature survey of the concept of the state (if that is even possible, since there are so many facets involved).

2. See, for example, the report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2015) on the State of Crime and Criminal Justice Worldwide available at https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/statistics/crime/ACONF222_4_e_V1500369.pdf.

3. The ban in wildlife delicacies in China comes in conjunction with several Asian based airlines banning shark fin as part of their cargo, for example, both the Fijian national carrier and the South Korean national carrier stopped shipments of all shark-related products from unsustainable and unverified sources.

4. Suspicion of the ANC was evident from the voting patterns in the 1994 elections. Communities voted predominately for the apartheid National Party rather than the ANC. See Steinberg op. cit.

5. At the same time, it should be noted that not only disadvantaged communities have political reasons to continue poaching and in research conducted by Raemaekers in 2009, white poachers found similar reasons to distrust the government to continue their poaching activities (Raemaekers 2009).

6. We prefer to use the concept Asian crime groups as opposed to Triads. The last mentioned have very specific structural characteristics, based on long historical developments (see, for example, Broadhurst and Wa 2009).

7. In 2015, Constitutional Court Judge Edwin Cameron visited the jail and reported that conditions are profoundly disturbing. Overcrowding in the prison fluctuates between 250% and 300% (Hopkins 2015).

8. We do not disregard community development programmes that have been rolled out in some marginalised communities (by, for example, local government and community interaction groups and non-governmental organisations). Although it is not the focus of the article, we acknowledge the positive impact of such initiatives; however, we argue that in order to establish wide-raging changes, state capacity and legitimacy have to be increased.

9. For reference, see the South African Constitution, Section 24 2c.