Renowned bestselling author Jackie Phamotse believes South Africa’s investigations into organized crime and corruption risk missing the bigger picture if they focus too heavily on individual alleged kingpins rather than the networks operating around them.
Speaking about her latest book, The Big Five Cartel, Phamotse argued that investigators should look beyond the alleged crimes of prominent individuals and examine the people, businesses, relationships and social circles around them.
Her comments came during an interview on the SMXW podcast, where she questioned the Madlanga Commission’s focus on alleged crime figure Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala and argued that investigators should be looking beyond the man at the centre of the probe.
Phamotse said following Matlala’s wider network of associates, business dealings, luxury assets and political and social connections could potentially expose a much bigger picture of how alleged criminal networks operate.
“I do really think there is that gap. And also because they just focus on him so much, and I’m like, just look around him. Who was he feeding?” Phamotse said when asked whether the commission had overlooked people who could shed light on how alleged cartels operate.
She argued that investigators should not focus exclusively on one central figure, Cat Matlala.
She said the people around an alleged kingpin could potentially provide more information about the extent of the network than simply tracing money allegedly stolen or misappropriated.
“Yes, the other guys are great but they need to look beyond that,” she said.
She said investigators should examine the people an alleged kingpin socialized with, including those encountered at golf courses, people who allegedly received expensive gifts and those who travelled with him.
“Look at the people he was spending time with at the golf course, the people he was buying cars for, the people he was traveling with,” she said.
Phamotse also questioned how wealthy individuals allegedly gain access to private jets and luxury vehicles, arguing that these relationships could potentially reveal another layer of the network.
“Who are those people? How was he getting access to private jets? Who are the owners of those private jets?” she probed.
She extended the questions to the luxury-car industry, arguing that investigators should examine where expensive vehicles are being sourced and who operates the businesses supplying them.
“Where was he buying cars?” she asked.
According to Phamotse, the people she is referring to would not necessarily use ordinary car dealerships.
“Remember, you go into a dealership to buy a car but these people don’t use ordinary dealerships, they go to the private ones. You know the private dealerships that bring in exotic cars. Let’s just leave it at that,” she added.
For Phamotse, the significance lies in understanding the relationships connecting these different parts of an alleged network.
She argued that focusing only on the amount of money allegedly stolen provides an incomplete picture.
“Who are those people? How are they moving money?. If you look at stuff like that, you get more answers instead of just looking at it in one-dimensional,” she said.
Phamotse acknowledged that the Madlanga Commission is dealing with an enormous amount of information and said she believed it needed more time to follow the various strands.
“There is a gap, but for now they’re doing a good job. It’s just that they need more time maybe five years,” she said.
Her argument is that alleged criminal networks cannot be understood by examining the police and criminal-justice system alone.
“There’s just so much more, and in also different departments. It’s not just SAPS but it’s the Department of Home affairs, Education Department. It’s all of it. Everybody has something to sell in every industry,” she argued.
She said the scale of the problem means investigators cannot realistically examine every possible connection simultaneously.
“We just don’t have the resources to look at everything all at once but we have to start somewhere,” she said.
But she maintained that there are potentially many people who remain outside the scope of current investigations.
She also argued that alleged networks could respond to investigations by changing the way they operate, including moving assets and money or relocating between provinces.
“But also, people are leaving South Africa. The more they see this, the more they move money, the more they change the ownership of assets. They move to different provinces,” she said.
Her broader argument is that investigators should follow not only the money, but also the relationships and infrastructure that allow wealthy and powerful individuals to operate.
For Phamotse, that means asking who provides access to luxury assets, who socializes with whom, who facilitates introductions and who benefits from those relationships.
The questions she raises are not, by themselves, evidence of criminal conduct by the people or businesses she references. Rather, they represent her argument that South Africa’s investigations should examine the wider networks surrounding alleged kingpins if they are to understand how organised crime and corruption operate.
At the heart of her argument is a simple question, “Who was he feeding?”
For Phamotse, finding the answer could reveal a network far larger than the individual at its centre.
