Publication

This paper discusses the racial, economic and geographic variations in the drug trade and drug use in Cape Town. The author also examines the trade’s growth during the apartheid, transitional and post-apartheid periods in the 20th and 21st centuries. He describes the various types of drugs, and, using a network approach, focuses on how those involved in the drug trade contribute to the development of criminal governance in Cape Town. The author concludes that the growth of criminal governance can partially be attributed to the failure of state institutions and also to the links between criminal networks and political and civic institutions.