Mafia group taking control in one of the busiest suburbs in Cape Town

• The Khayelitsha Development Forum receives daily complaints from business owners about extortion, which has become a major problem in the community.
• Khayelitsha has approximately 3,500 informal businesses, many of which operate on limited margins and cannot easily absorb additional costs imposed by criminal groups.
• The Western Cape accounts for a disproportionately large share of protection racket cases nationally, with 52 of the 112 cases recorded in the first quarter of the 2026/2027 financial year.