Industry body Business Against Crime South Africa (Bacsa) is calling on businesses across South Africa to make full use of its proven extortion prevention programme, which forms an integral part of the successful Eyes and Ears (E2) Initiative.

As a formal, signed partnership with the South African Police Service (SAPS), Bacsa says this initiative is a critical tool in the fight against the growing threat of extortion facing businesses, particularly within infrastructure and construction projects.

It notes that extortion – through demands for “protection fees”, forced employment of criminal elements and threats of violence – continues to endanger legitimate operations, inflate project costs and erode investor confidence.

Bacsa’s extortion programme, operating within the E2 framework, provides businesses with a direct channel to law enforcement, ensuring a coordinated, strategic and sustained response.

The E2 Initiative is built on real-time information sharing between approved private security providers, other vetted role-players and SAPS.

Through its national E2 Monitoring Centre, criminal incidents and suspicious activities are relayed directly to SAPS via dedicated E2 Controllers embedded in each of the nine Provincial Operational Command Centres and the National Operational Command Centre.

This ensures swift, verified communication, allowing SAPS to deploy resources proactively and effectively, while maintaining continuous situational awareness across the country.

By leveraging the extensive reach of private security assets, Bacsa says the E2 programme acts as a "powerful force multiplier" to support law enforcement in crime prevention and response.

HOW IT WORKS

When businesses report extortion attempts through the E2 programme, Bacsa activates a multi-stakeholder response.

This engages the SAPS, including specialist extortion task teams where applicable; the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA); local government and municipal safety departments; community policing forums and relevant councillors and community leaders.

The programme also provides proactive protection through pre-construction briefings and coordination between SAPS, contractors, and stakeholders; increased patrols and visible policing around sites; surveillance of suspected extortion activities; security support during high-risk project phases; and ongoing oversight to prevent escalation of threats.

Bacsa says this holistic approach helps to create an environment where extortion cannot take hold, ensuring that businesses can operate safely and without criminal interference.

"Our programme has delivered solid results in both the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, where extortion attempts were shut down following the establishment of dedicated extortion task teams in partnership with the provincial NPA and SAPS," says Bacsa CEO Graham Wright.

"These successes were further supported by strong municipal law enforcement involvement, proving that a coordinated, multi-agency approach works. Now is the time for businesses to make use of this system to protect their operations."

While the extortion programme has delivered significant results in construction, Bacsa says it believes its principles can be expanded to protect businesses in other sectors, including retail, logistics, and small- and medium-sized enterprises facing organised criminal threats.

Bacsa is calling on all businesses facing extortion attempts, intimidation, or criminal interference to act immediately by contacting it through the E2 Initiative.

The organisation assures that this is a proven, direct and effective channel to SAPS and key law enforcement structures.

“No business should face these threats alone,” it says.

Through E2, Bacsa says it will mobilise the necessary resources – including SAPS specialised units, the NPA, and municipal law enforcement – to intervene, protect operations, and shut down criminal networks before they take hold.

“If your business has been targeted by extortion or is operating in a high-risk sector, now is the time to act,” it expresses.