HOW EL SALVADOR TOOK BACK ITS COUNTRY FROM BRUTAL GANGS AND WHY SOUTH AFRICA MUST LEARN FROM THIS EXAMPLE AS CRIMINALS, DRUG LORDS AND SYNDICATES CONTINUE TO TERRORISE TOWNSHIPS, COURTS AND CITIES
For many years, El Salvador was one of the most dangerous countries in the world. Powerful gangs like MS-13 and Barrio 18 controlled entire neighbourhoods. They decided who could live where, who could run a business, who must pay “protection money,” and even who could walk freely in the streets. Police, communities and politicians were intimidated. Murders were daily, children were recruited, and the state was slowly losing control.
Then everything changed.
When President Nayib Bukele came into power, his government declared an all-out war on organised crime. A state of emergency was introduced. Thousands of gang members and leaders were arrested in coordinated operations. Special prisons were built to isolate dangerous criminals from society. Intelligence, police and the army worked together. Communities were flooded with visible security. Gangs lost their freedom to operate, recruit, intimidate and kill.
Today, El Salvador’s murder rate has dropped dramatically. Areas that were once ruled by fear are now being reopened to normal life. While human rights debates continue, one thing is clear: the government showed political will and sent a strong message that criminals, not citizens, would fear the law.
Now compare this to South Africa.
In many parts of our country, gangs and crime syndicates control drug markets, extortion rackets, taxi routes, construction sites and even influence court cases. We see shootings at courts, witnesses being silenced, communities living in fear, and criminals moving freely while ordinary people hide behind gates and walls. In places like Cape Flats, Westbury, Eldorado Park, parts of KZN and Gauteng, gangs behave like parallel governments.
Just like El Salvador before its crackdown, South Africa is facing: – Organised gangs that recruit young boys
– Drug lords who buy protection
– Intimidation of communities and witnesses
– Fear inside the justice system
– Criminals who feel untouchable
The difference is political will.
El Salvador chose to confront gangsterism head-on, using intelligence, the army, police, tough laws and fast courts. South Africa, on the other hand, often arrests small criminals while the real kingpins remain free, protected by corruption, weak investigations and slow justice.
If El Salvador could take back its streets from some of the most violent gangs in the world, then South Africa can do the same. But it requires bold leadership, fearless law enforcement, clean intelligence structures, and a justice system that protects citizens instead of being infiltrated by criminals.
South Africa does not need to become a police state, but it must become a serious state against crime. Gangs must fear the law again. Courts must be safe. Communities must be protected. And criminal syndicates must be dismantled from the top, not just at street level.
The lesson is simple:
When a government decides that gangsterism will no longer rule, gangsterism collapses. South Africa must now make that same decision.