According to Dr Delano van der Linde from the North-West University’s (NWU’s) Faculty of Law, legislation such as the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (POCA) fails to disrupt the way gangs operate and to distinguish between gang activity and common law crimes.
Dr Van der Linde says the POCA was enacted to fight organised crime, criminal gang activities and money laundering, but has been unsuccessful in this task. This is due to a number of textual, institutional and constitutional shortcomings.
These shortcomings should be addressed as criminal gang activity presents a substantial threat to the lives of particularly the Cape Flats community in the Western Cape.
“The POCA was promulgated to better address a trinity of crimes, namely money laundering, racketeering and criminal gang activity - also known as organised crime,” says Dr Van der Linde.
“Despite significant strides in combating money laundering and racketeering, the same cannot be said for criminal gang activity. In fact, the incidence of gang-related crimes has increased since the promulgation of the Act.”
During the 2017/2018 financial year more than one in every five murders (21,6%) committed in the Western Cape was gang-related. It was reported in 2017 that only 3% of the 1 886 gang murders over the past five years were successfully prosecuted.
Amendment of the POCA or additional legislation is therefore needed.
Dr Van der Linde found that the POCA is exceedingly similar to common law and therefore ill-equipped to deal with the unique challenges associated with organised crime.
He also feels that punishment for gang members should be harsher. “Three to eight years or a fine is not enough of a deterrence, and although sentences can be increased by aggravating circumstances, more should be done.”
He explains that the POCA is too broad due to potential interpretations of what a “criminal” gang and “criminal gang activity” are, and a court does not have to follow these open definitions.
“Crime and crime prevention is a national priority and has been a focus of many election campaigns this year. I hope that the Western Cape gangs become a national priority in 2019.”
Dr Delano van der Linde.
