Corruption and organized crime intersect in various ways in the City of Johannesburg, creating what the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) describes as a ‘crime–council ecosystem’. This ecosystem exploits the machinery of local government for illicit ends, contributes to failures in service delivery and undermines accountability.

The GI-TOC joins the Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE) for the release of Time for Action – Corruption in Joburg, the fifth report in CDE’s Johannesburg Matters: Fixing South Africa’s Growth Engine series. The report draws on two GI-TOC studies commissioned by CDE: Joburglary: Assessing the crime–council ecosystem in the City of Johannesburg and Stopping the rot: Countering corruption and criminal collusion in Johannesburg.

Joburglary identifies three overlapping tracks. ‘Institutional capture’ describes how government officials influence tender processes and appointments, and circumvent or undermine accountability mechanisms. ‘Hybrid collusion’ between municipal officials, criminals and businesspeople can facilitate access to emergency tenders and the identification of buildings for hijacking, and sometimes underpin extortion in construction. ‘Direct predation’ describes municipal employees and contractors engaging in bribery and extortion.

The report finds that the decline of the city can itself become a profit motive: corrupt and criminal actors may capitalise on service-delivery failures to win lucrative emergency contracts. At the same time, weaknesses in accountability and transparency allow the ecosystem to flourish. The research does not attribute all of Johannesburg’s problems to corruption and organised crime – incompetence, inertia and the long shadow of apartheid also form part of the picture.

Stopping the rot proposes five areas for action: establishing an independent integrity commission; creating civilian oversight and pursuing internal reform of the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department; reclaiming hijacked buildings through a coordinated campaign; strengthening municipal investigations, board appointments and procurement transparency; and appointing an Accountability Commissioner to monitor implementation and instil key governance values.

The November 2026 local government elections present an opportunity for a reset. Whatever its political composition, the incoming administration must acknowledge the severity of the crisis and take action to address corruption and collusion.

This webinar will examine how the crime–council ecosystem operates, why existing accountability measures have struggled, and what it would take to put the proposed reforms into practice.

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