Watch – Beyond the Big Five cartel: Unmasking South Africa’s true narco kingpins

In 2025 a senior policeman made striking accusations that a drug cartel had infiltrated South Africa’s criminal justice system, politics and private security. This sparked high-level law enforcement suspensions and arrests, totally reconfiguring the country’s policing. This unprecedented crisis runs much deeper, though, and has been decades in the making. Daily Maverick’s Caryn Dolley reports.Reporting by: Caryn DolleyEdited by: Joel SeboaFilmed by: Joel SeboaProduced by: Emilie GambadeCreative input by: Malibongwe TyiloSub-edited by: Mike van Olst***Narcotrafficking has always circled dangerously close to the South African state.How exactly did South Africa get to the point where we keep hearing allegations that state officials — police officers — are working with traffickers, and that po