In her latest weekly newsletter, Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) CEO Busi Mavuso has spoken out against the “horrendous” crime figures for the first quarter of the year, and pledged the business sphere’s support for practical interventions to combat crime.

She highlights the increasing instances of extortion that businesses have had to deal with.

“A business mafia has evolved that threatens businesses, demanding inducements to avoid consequences. This has become a national priority for the police, to which BLSA, through its Business Against Crime South Africa (Bacsa) project, has set up an information-sharing site to capture all information regarding extortion incidents.

“By capturing such information, we can understand trends and connect incidents, [thereby] improving the probabilities of arrest and successful prosecutions.”

She encourages every business that has been subject to any extortion attempt to report it at https://e2.bac.org.za.

Meanwhile, the first quarter had a “shocking” increase in violent crimes, with murders having increased by 22% year-on-year to 6 083 – about 67 murders a day – and reported rape cases by 14% to more than 10 000 in the quarter.

Mavuso says the high crime rate across South Africa affects employees and customers of businesses and poses serious security challenges to some. Commercial crime also damages the economy, with more than 25 000 cases of this having been reported in the first quarter – a 13% increase year-on-year.

BLSA has long been active in channelling business support to crime-fighting initiatives, including through Bacsa, which coordinates resources and information to support the police and prosecutors.

Bacsa has developed the Eyes and Ears initiative, drawing together businesses, the police and the private security industry to share information and tackle crime.

It uses private sector resources such as vehicles, helicopters, cameras, drones and staff to react to reports of crime alongside the police. The initiative also makes use of number plate recognition cameras, closed-circuit television and artificial intelligence.

Bacsa established a Business Fusion Monitoring Centre last year to congregate information and ensure it is analysed and disseminated to the police to help detect, prevent and investigate criminal activity on a national level.

More than 550 verified live alerts are shared with the police every day.

Upon his announcement of the first quarter crime figures, Police Minister Bheki Cele called for government, business, nonprofit organisations, civil society and communities to fight crime in a collaborative manner, pointing out that successful policing depends on good working relations between communities and police.

The Ministry and police are implementing a Station Accountability Plan, starting with the top 30 high crime police stations, to put in place action plans to reduce crime and work with community organisations.

Mavuso says the calls for partnership and practical interventions bode well for the business sphere and she has committed BLSA’s continued support in these endeavours.