SA’s most violent criminals are literally getting away with murder, with police seemingly unable to stop them and prosecutors unable to convict them.
This is according to some of the country’s leading criminologists and researchers into cash-in-transit robberies.
A TimesLIVE Premium investigation, based on data from the police crime administration system and companies responsible for transporting billions of rand annually across SA, this week revealed a surge in deadly heists.
According to crime stats released by police minister Bheki Cele, there were 46 cash-in-transit heists from April to June this year, compared with 19 in the same period the year before, and 39 heists between April and June two years ago.
Police stats show in the past five financial years, the 2021/22 financial year has had the second highest number of cash-in-transit robberies, with 211. The 2017/18 financial year had the highest number with 238 heists. In the years in between, there were fewer than 200 heists.
Cash-in-transit industry information shows that since January 170 heists have occurred. For the same period in 2020, 132 heists occurred, while that period in 2021 had 173 heists.
At least 10 cash heists have occurred across SA over the past three weeks:
- Last Friday, a G4S van was blown up on the Golden Highway outside Soweto;
- An SBV guard was killed and another injured in a heist in Kimberley;
- Nine robbers were arrested in Mpumalanga after a shoot-out with police and private security guards;
- The driver of a Fidelity cash van was injured in an attack in Rustenburg, North West;
- Two G4S guards were attacked in Dikeni (Alice) in Eastern Cape;
- Seven men opened fire on a Fidelity driver and crew as they delivered cash in Thohoyandou, Limpopo, injuring one and killing another;
- A cash van was blown up in Emalahleni, Mpumalanga;
- CIT robbers attacked cash vans in Grabouw, Western Cape, KwaDukuza, KwaZulu-Natal, and Randfontein, West Rand.
Only one suspect, Njabulo Ncwane, has been arrested for the KwaDukuza attack. He is facing charges of armed robbery, illegal possession of explosives, attempted murder and malicious damage to property in the Durban magistrate’s court.
Compounding the onslaught is an apparent lack of convictions.
The National Prosecuting Authority said it did not keep details of convictions for CIT robberies. NPA spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga said CIT robberies are grouped under “hijackings” and the conviction rates for all hijackings over the past three years were 238, 185 and 299 respectively for 2022, 2021 and 2020.
Dr Alice Maree, of the Cash-In-Transit Association of SA (CITASA), said while arrests were made, prosecutions were often lengthy.
In March the Pietermaritzburg high court sentenced eight suspects to 95 years' imprisonment for a heist which occurred on September 1 2017. They are to serve an effective 30 years in jail.
On July 21, the Pretoria high court sentenced Henrico Fourie, Josiah Lucas Maseko, Morris Fanie Mbuyani and Lazarus Ntlatleng to 30 years' imprisonment each for a heist on an SBV van in Bronkhorstspruit, Pretoria, in 2020.
Their co-accused, Zimbabwean national Bekithemba Patrick Mbanjwa, is on the run after being granted bail. A warrant of arrest has been issued.
It is critical that detectives investigating these cases are properly trained and equipped, and have the capability to collect the right evidence to ensure charges are not dropped or bail granted.
— Gareth Newham, ISS justice and violence prevention head
Maree said CIT robbers were mainly repeat-offenders.
“Some of them will appear in court as first-time offenders, but it is actually the first time they have been arrested and charged, and not necessarily the first time they have been involved in a CIT robbery.
“CITASA would support the NPA putting together specialised prosecutors to deal with CIT-related matters, including a special court and even magistrates.”
Gareth Newham, Institute for Security Studies justice and violence prevention head, said the failure of the criminal justice system to deal with violent crimes such as cash-in-transit heists, came down to a lack of intelligence, poorly trained and ill-equipped detectives, and corruption.
“These things are creating a recipe for disaster.”
He said corruption within the SAPS was one of the biggest reasons police could not deal with cash heists.
“Those behind the heists almost always work with corrupt police officers,” he alleged.
Newham said there was a growing trend of the criminal justice system not being able to deal with cash-in-transit robberies, with suspects either granted bail or having the charges withdrawn.
“In such cases [robbery with aggravated circumstances] the onus is on the accused to prove why it is in the interest of justice for them to be granted bail.
“A magistrate or judge, however, can only make that decision based on the evidence before them. With the inability of the police to collect and properly analyse evidence, it makes it easier for these suspects to get off or get bail.
“It is critical that detectives investigating these cases are properly trained and equipped, and have the capability to collect the right evidence to ensure charges are not dropped or bail granted.”
He said the police’s ability to effectively deal with violent crime had plummeted since 2012.
“In the last 10 years the ability of police to solve murders has dropped by 50%.
“The SAPS’s ability to solve robberies with aggravated circumstances has dropped by 30%.
“That means 85% of such crimes are not solved. The affect is that there is little deterrence to those wanting to get involved in such crimes.
“What is worrying, is that typically those who become involved in heists face [possible] murder, attempted murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances [cases].”
Dr Hennie Lochner, cash-in-transit and violent crime research expert, concurred with Newham.
“The police are always bragging about how many people they arrest. The problem is not with the arrests, the problem is with the lack of convictions and withdrawal of charges because of the lack of evidence.”
Renso Smit, G4S Southern Africa regional cluster director, said not enough prosecutions and convictions were being secured to deter the cash-in-transit robbers, “who operate with impunity”.
Asked if the company was seeing an increase in sentencing of CIT robbers since 2017 and whether the sentences handed down were more severe, he said: “Since there are very few convictions, it is impossible to provide a view on the trends.”
Wahl Bartmann, Fidelity Services Group CEO, said his company had a good working relationship with the NPA and Hawks.
“The biggest concern is the quality of investigations and the lack of experienced detectives to investigate complicated matters, especially where speedy DNA results are required, and cellphone evidence needs to be analysed.”
He said five cash-in-transit robbers who attacked their vehicles had been sentenced between 2017 and 2022.
The wheels of justice turned slowly and Covid-19 caused further delays, said Bartmann, citing the example of four heist suspects arrested for an attempted heist in Kestell in 2019, who were eventually released on bail because their case had been postponed too often.
He said at the accused’s next appearance for trial, two failed to appear after they were killed while committing a crime while out on bail, and a third escaped.
“He is still on the run with a warrant of arrest issued for him. Only one accused attended court. The case was again postponed.”
A CIT industry insider, speaking on condition of anonymity because of his position within the sector and working relations with police, said millions of rand had been contributed by the industry into stopping those behind the heists.
“But, nothing is improving. This year, and in particular July, has been particularly bad. It is almost on par with the 2018 heist levels.”
He said on average, suspects stole a minimum of R5m per successful heist.
“While heists are increasingly less successful, they are definitely not increasingly less violent.”
He said the cash van industry was concerned about how little money gets recovered by the police, “despite huge shoot-outs, killings and arrests of suspects".
“You would also expect a slump with all the killings and arrests, but while there is maybe a dip for a week, like after the Rosettenville shoot-out, where eight robbers were killed, it surges again. The way the criminal justice system deals with heists is hugely suspect.”
He said from the rate and level of co-ordination in the heists, it raised suspicions that the gangs possibly had a head office from where they accessed logistical information on the cash vans' movements.
“The only people with such logistical insight is the CIT companies themselves, the SAPS joint operational centre in Pretoria or the vehicle tracking companies.
“Somewhere, someone is pulling strings at a level that gives these robbers minute-by-minute intelligence on the cash vehicles and police’s location.
He gave examples of CIT attacks that raised concerns.
“Look at the two attacks on G4S last year. One occurred on the N1 in the Roodepoort area near 14th Avenue. The robbers spent 26 minutes on the scene, blocking off both highway lanes in rush-hour traffic. The attack was on an unscheduled vehicle run.
“Another highly suspicious attack, also against G4S, occurred in Bushbuck Ridge, Limpopo where robbers attacked five vans in a convoy. The attack lasted 24 minutes. In both highly co-ordinated attacks there was no police response until after the robbers had escaped and no arrests. How is that possible?”
TimesLIVE Premium
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.