A tale of two cities: mafia control, the night time entertainment economy and drug retail markets in Johannesburg and Cape Town, 1985–2015

Abstract

Extortion and violence associated with drug markets in the night time club industry in Johannesburg and Cape Town provide contrasting cases of how mafia groups begin to form and then evolve. In Johannesburg a protection economy, run by a white ‘bouncer mafia’ developed around the distribution of drugs in nightclubs. After significant conflict between these groups, one achieved dominance before being displaced non-violently by emergent Nigerian criminal networks. In Cape Town the night time entertainment economy has evolved into a tightly controlled business, where extortion rackets and the control of club security remains closely linked to drug retailing. The stronger local control of drug markets in Cape Town’s night time entertainment venues is a feature of the linkage between the extortion business and powerful suppliers of violence within the constellation of pre-existing local gangs. Both cases illustrate a conceptual model of how protection economies develop and are sustained.

Keywords:

• Organised crime
• mafia
• drug markets
• South Africa
• Cape Town
• Johannesburg

Acknowledgements

I am grateful for the comments of two anonymous reviewers on an earlier version. Tuesday Reitano, Simon Howell, Irvine Kinnes, Luke Skywalker, Adam Armstrong and Clifford Shearing contributed valuable insights. This work is based on research supported by the South African Research Chairs Initiative of the Department of Science and Technology and National Research Foundation of South Africa [grant number 47303]. Any opinion, finding and conclusion or recommendation expressed in this material is that of the author and the NRF does not accept any liability in this regard.

Funding

This work was supported by the South African Research Chairs Initiative of the Department of Science and Technology and National Research Foundation of South Africa [grant number 47303].

Notes

1. The term ‘township’ is used historically in South Africa to denote non-white housing generally on the periphery or margins of towns or cities. It has wide currency, including amongst residents, to describe different parts of the city. Focus groups held with drug users in African townships in Cape Town in early 2015 suggest a growing level of control around drug dealing. Users may still approach multiple dealers, but there is now pressure for greater control of local level sale and distribution.

2. Interviews conducted with former police officers from the then South African Police ‘Gang Unit’ as well as community leaders in several towns in the course of 2014 and 2015.

3. The South African Police Service’s 2013/14 Report for the Western Cape for example provides an explicit link between murders and those areas with active gangs (see South African Police Service [SAPS], 2014).

4. Interviews were conducted with several participants in the enforcement economy, including a gang member who had been directly engaged, Cape Town, November 2014 and July 2015.

5. This agreement has ben mentioned in at least two interviews, Cape Town, September 2015.

6. Interviews, current and former bouncers, Cape Town, July 2015.

7. The term ‘Congolese’ in this context often includes a range of other African nationalities. The same applies to the term ‘Nigerian’ in the Johannesburg context.

8. Interviews, Congolese bouncers, Cape Town, July 2015.

9. The words of those of a former bouncer who knew of Beeka’s operation, Cape Town, November 2014.

10. The information for Johannesburg is drawn from an extensive set of interviews with current and former Johannesburg bouncers conducted during 2014. See Shaw and Haysom (in press).

12. The author and colleagues have conducted over twenty detailed interviews with the Johannesburg mafia and no member ever mentioned the possibility of reaching out to local African gangs as allies. This was partly justified in racist terms, but also based on the fact that African gangs had few linkages to the mainstream drug control and distribution business in white areas.

13. Interviews Johannesburg and Cape Town, December 2014.

14. Interviews, bouncers and a gang member, Cape Town, November 2014 and September 2015.

15. Interview, ex-gang member and now community leader, central Cape Town, November 2014.

16. Interview, investigative journalist, Cape Town, August 2015.