Bar owners in Cape Town prefer not to discuss protection rackets.

"You just adapt," says a man from East Africa who does not want to give his name. "The laws of the street apply here."

German bar owner Randolf Jorberg learned what these laws look like in 2015. After he spoke publicly for the first time about extortion practices in the restaurant industry and refused to pay, a Congolese bouncer working for him was stabbed to death.

Prior to this, well-dressed men with broad shoulders had visited his bar, Beerhouse.

"They offer you protection from a danger they can't really describe," Jorberg told DW.

"They ask you for monthly payments. And you will only experience increased levels of intimidation, if you decide not to take up their offer," he said.

"Had I been in Cape Town, I wouldn't dare"

During the coronavirus pandemic, cases of extortion increased rapidly. Because nightclubs were no longer open, restaurants and bars in Cape Town's city center became targets for protection rackets. 

In late 2020, with DW present, Jorberg's Beerhouse was visited by the man Jorberg suspects of being behind the extortion: Nafiz Modack. His security guards briefly blocked off parts of Long Street, a key artery in the city center. With more than ten bodyguards, Modack entered the bar.

"I just had to meet with the manager a moment," Modack tells DW, before disappearing.

Jorberg went public again about his experiences — this time from abroad: "Had I been in Cape Town, I wouldn't have dared."

A few months later, in 2021, Modack was arrested, charged with hundreds of crimes including murder and tax fraud, and has been in custody ever since. He was found guilty of corruption in June, but other charges are pending. In November 2024, another alleged leader of the extortion gangs, Mark Lifman, died in a hail of bullets outside a shopping center in George. Other alleged underworld leaders have been caught up in a battle for supremacy in Cape Town. 

"You have to look at these groups operating like a business. The death of a CEO does not stop the business from continuing," says Aron Hyman, an investigative journalist who has been researching South Africa's underworld for years. He works for the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC).

"If you want to fix a pothole in certain parts of Cape Town, you have to pay an extortion fee. These networks are quite big, and they stretch into the very heart of politics," he tells DW.

The GI-TOC reported the extortion industry in Cape Town is a systemic threat — a growing shadow economy. Four main sectors are affected: nightlife, construction, transportation, and the township economy.

Often, victims are not South African nationals: entrepreneurs from Somalia, Ethiopia, or Eritrea, who run small businesses are vulnerable. Not only are they victims of crime, but also targets of xenophobia.

On the Cape Flats, about 15 kilometers away from central Cape Town, contractor Mpho Moloi only enters her construction site accompanied by dozens of heavily armed security guards.

"Yesterday, we wanted to hire people from the area here — and were prevented from doing so. It's not safe," she told DW.

An entrepreneur from East Africa who operates several Uber taxis in Cape Town told DW her drivers have had to pay protection money on several occasions.

Inadequate policing for "intolerable" extortion situation

At the first Anti-Extortion Summitheld in June, Premier of the Western Cape province Alan Winde described the situation regarding extortion as "intolerable."

"At the end of 2024, infrastructure projects worth more than R400 million (€20 million) were at a standstill due to protection racketeering," he said. 

South African police are now deploying special anti-extortion units in several regions of the country. 6,056 cases were reported to the police between April 2019 and March 2024, but these led to only 178 convictions.

The number of convictions and arrests is rising steadily, says Shadrack Sibiya, the Deputy National Commissioner for Crime Detection.

"But the problem is also that victims often don't cooperate with us out of fear," he told DW.

At the summit, participants reaffirmed their intention to work more closely together. But, in a demonstration of discord within the South African Police Service and national crime fighting strategy, Sibiya was placed on a leave of absence from duty pending an internal investigation. President Cyril Ramaphosa also placed Minister of Police Senzo Mchunu on a leave of absence after allegations of links to criminal networks were made against Mchunu.

Pandemic of organized crime

South Africa is plagued with high levels of violent crime. Last year, there were 26,232 murders – an average of 72 every day – with gangs, organized crime, and drug trafficking often playing a role.

This problem is not unique to South Africa. The GI-TOC speaks of a "pandemic of organized crime" in Africa, while the ENACT Africa Organized Crime Index 2023 highlights human trafficking, the growing cocaine market, and financial crime as particular problem areas. The report also warns that foreign actors are accelerating this development due to the continent's porous borders.

International policing

For years, authorities have been unable to control globally active criminal networks, such as the Nigerian "Black Axe" and the Chinese triads. But there have been successes: in 2024, a global operation by Interpol led to the arrest of hundreds of members of criminal groups from West Africa, and $3 million were seized. In the same year, South Africa extradited a Black Axe member to the United States, where he faces up to 20 years in prison for fraud and money laundering.

Observers have pointed to Italy's Addiopizzo("Goodbye to protection money") initiative as a potential, citizen-led blueprint. Launched in Sicily in 2004 to counter crippling Mafia extortion faced by small businesses and construction companies, Addiopizzo encourages residents to purchase from shops that do not pay extortion fees. The organization also offers victim assistance and social inclusion programs. 

In Cape Town, Randolf Jorberg's Beerhouse ran into financial difficulties after the COVID-19 pandemic and has since closed. But he hopes more business owners find the courage to fight protection rackets. 

Author Klaus Beyer works under a pseudonym