Illegal abalone trade in the Western Cape

Criminal governance in the abalone trade takes various forms. These include: marginalized people turning to the informal economy; both abalone wholesalers and gangsters developing a level of power over a region that renders them parallel sources of authority; the corruption and co-opting of state officials; and, arguably, the state’s reliance on the seizure of poached abalone. The illegal abalone trade provides an important case study of a criminal network in Cape Town and how it impacts governance. Of particular importance are the production, transportation and distribution processes, and the networks used