A five-day Session held to Develop South Africa’s National Strategy to Combat Cross Border Crime

The meeting which commenced on Monday, 03 March 2025 and concluded on Friday, 07 March 2025, aimed to enhance regional cooperation and develop effective measures to combat transnational organised crime in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.

This session brought together key stakeholders in the fight against crime as well as various security experts with the aim of ensuring that organised criminal networks involved in drug trafficking, the proliferation of firearms, the influx of illegal immigrants, cyber crime and theft of vehicles amongst other transnational organised crimes are dismantled.

During the opening session, General Fannie Masemola emphasised the need for better cooperation, resources and technology as well as commitment from various stakeholders to intensify the fight against transnational organised crime.

General Masemola highlighted recent successes achieved in the region by the SAPS such as the arrest of more than 20 drug traffickers at OR Tambo International Airport in the last six months and the confiscation of millions worth of drugs across the country as a step in the right direction.

“ we must emerge from this session with a solid plan that will see us strengthen border control measures and intelligence sharing, deploy advanced technology to prevent and combat transnational organised crime, as well as enchance collaboration with regional and international law enforcement agencies”, said General Fannie Masemola .

As part of this strategy, SAPS aims to amongst others strengthen intelligence-led policing, improve border security, enhance training and capacity building and foster and enhance trust with local communities to gather intelligence and promote mutually beneficial working relations.