‘Pay up or die!’ − Eastern Cape under siege from extortion syndicates

Police minister Senzo Mchunu is worried that businesses and schools in Mthatha are being attacked by extortion syndicates demanding “protection fees”.

There are growing concerns that businesses are forced to close doors due to the extortion racket with syndicates demanding “protection fees” of about R20 000 for small businesses, R50 000 for medium-sized, and more than R200 000 for big businesses.

Extortion

It is understood that some schools and school teachers renting properties in Mthatha were also forced to pay between R500 and R1 000 a month for protection.

While some business owners have closed their outlets, others have fled the town after being threatened with death if they do not pay the “protection fees”.

“Pay or you will die,” they were warned.

Mchunu told 702 the problem is a challenge that must be faced head on.

“It’s criminal. It’s not confined to the Eastern Cape and Western Cape. It’s also KZN and elsewhere. In the next few weeks, we should sort it out.

“This has grown to such an extent that we hear women in villages have to either post R50 on their window or they get raped if they don’t do that. So it has gone wild,” Mchunu said.

He said the current situation is “ugly”.  

“There are suspicions that some police officers are involved.”

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Action plan

Mchunu said they have plans to resolve the siege in Mthatha.

“We have started laying ground plans to deal with this and collecting as much information as possible on names of the people who are in this at any level. There are those who are identified as kingpins and there are those identified as runners.”

Last week, Mchunu and Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane visited the hotspots in Gqeberha and Mthatha.

The national commissioner of the South African Police Service (Saps), General Fannie Masemola has deployed extra boots to the Eastern Cape to clamp down on the extortionists and gangs.

The ANC in the province called for the government to deploy South African National Defence Force soldiers in order to combat and arrest those behind incidents of gang violence and extortion.

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