'Mafia Land' a snapshot of SA's dark economy

The following book review is by a local media and PR expert, Muriel Hau-Yoon, a founding member of the South African National Editors' Forum (Sanef). This livewire polymath (Google the meaning) lives in George and is involved in various activities for the greater good of the Southern Cape.

- Muriel Hau-Yoon

State capture and Gupta-gate has ushered in a feisty new generation of investigative journalists who are smart, courageous and helping to fill the vacuum in SA's floundering criminal justice system. In recent weeks, a cornucopia of corruption blockbusters has spilled over onto local bookshelves. Hot on the heels of Jeff Wicks' Shadow State is Pieter du Toit's The Dark Prince, Kyle Cowan's Mafia Land and Pauli van Wyk and Micah Reddy's Malema.

Faced with an embarrassment of riches, I randomly opted for Mafia Land - Inside South Africa's Darkest Cartels - a tightly written compendium of the mafias, cartels and crime syndicates that underpin South Africa's 'dark economy'.

There is the tobacco mafia. The water tanker mafia. The taxi mafia. The hospital mafia. The construction mafia. The cash-in-transit mafia. Even the police mafia.