The coronavirus pandemic will have a profound effect on the global economy, and illicit economies will be no exception. Already from other regions which are currently worse-hit by the virus, stories are emerging of criminal groups either exploiting the fear of the epidemic to defraud people, or providing black-market access to medical supplies which are now in high demand.

Highlights:

• Murder of Cape Town gang leader Rashied Staggie brings an uneasy peace as assassination theories abound.
• The normalization of political killings in KwaZulu-Natal poses a threat to South Africa’s democracy ahead of the 2021 local government elections.
• Groundbreaking new study of East and Southern African heroin markets out in April.
• Heroin, cocaine and marijuana markets in Uganda are changing.
• The deaths of 64 migrants in a truck container in Mozambique is a ghastly reminder of smuggling risks.

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