The past quarter has seen major developments relating to extortion, from the Cape Town CBD to Khayelitsha. Our monitoring team has been tracking court cases and investigating the impact of these developments. Hundreds of cases of gang-related shootings continued unabated, as the gang landscape continues to be volatile and fragmented.

In this issue, we focus on four main themes:

• The murder of Mark Lifman and its impact on extortion dynamics.
• The role of rogue private security as a channel through which gangs access ammunition.
• The collapsed prosecution of Yanga ‘Bara’ Nyalara.
• The changing dynamics of the illegal abalone trade.

This series of bulletins will continue to track developments in Western Cape gang dynamics each quarter to provide a concise synthesis of relevant trends to inform policymakers and civil society. The monitor draws on information provided by field researchers working in gang-affected communities of the Western Cape. This includes interviews with current and former gang members, civil society and members of the criminal justice system.