In 2025 a senior policeman made striking accusations that a drug cartel had infiltrated South Africa’s criminal justice system, politics and private security. This sparked high-level law enforcement suspensions and arrests, totally reconfiguring the country’s policing. This unprecedented crisis runs much deeper, though, and has been decades in the making. Daily Maverick’s Caryn Dolley reports.
Reporting by: Caryn Dolley
Edited by: Joel Seboa
Filmed by: Joel Seboa
Produced by: Emilie Gambade
Creative input by: Malibongwe Tyilo
Sub-edited by: Mike van Olst
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Chapters;
0:00 Intro — allegations reaching into the state
0:18 Apartheid-era origins
0:54 Vicky Goswami’s Zambia and ANC ties
1:20 Goswami’s South Africa network and killings
1:31 Dubai arrest and conviction
1:46 Kenya and the Akasha brothers
2:07 US extradition, 2017
2:30 Ernie Lastig Solomon and the Terrible Josters
3:04 Solomon’s unsolved 2020 murder
3:22 The Big Five cartel allegations, July 2025
3:41 Vusimuzi "Cat" Matlala and Jothan Msibi
4:06 How the networks connect
4:31 The Untouchables and what’s ahead
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