Ministry of Crime: An Underworld Explored

In this follow-up to the bestselling Killing Kebble: An Underworld Exposed (2011), Mandy Wiener examines the nexus between organised crime figures, corrupt police officials and powerful politicians.

Ministry of Crime traces an underworld trajectory from Kebble to Krejcir to Modack. It features new revelations about high-profile, unsolved hits and the intricate relationships between known criminals and police officers at all levels. It delves into the current power struggle between opposing factions in Cape Town’s security industry and the suspected involvement of state operatives in the bloody standoff.

Wiener has gained exclusive access to and on-the-record interviews with key underworld characters and police generals accused of colluding with criminals. These have helped her track the parallel narrative of the capture of law-enforcement agencies and unravel how players with inexplicable political backing have been able to pillage secret slush funds and abuse organs of state for their own benefit.

Against this backdrop, prominent underworld figures - Radovan Krejcir key among them - have been able to thrive, setting up elaborate networks with the assistance of police. While crime is flourishing, the top echelons of the police and prosecution have been at war with themselves.

The proximity of politics, law enforcement and organised crime over the past decade is frighteningly intertwined. The story of the rise and reign of the Ministry of Crime winds its way from the depths of the underworld, via multiple mysterious unsolved murders, to senior politicians and the very top ranks of the country’s police force.

MANDY WIENER lives and works in Johannesburg. She is one of South Africa's best-known and most credible journalists and authors. Wiener worked as a multi-award-winning reporter with Eyewitness News from 2004 until 2014 and is currently a freelancer. Ministry of Crime is her fourth book, following on from the best-selling Killing Kebble: An Underworld Exposed (2011); My Second Initiation: The Memoir of Vusi Pikoli (2013), written with the former head of the National Prosecuting Authority; and Behind the Door: The Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp Story (2014), co-authored with colleague Barry Bateman.