At the start of the decade, if you asked the bosses of South Africa’s firms to name the biggest problem facing their country, most would have said electricity. Relentless blackouts were crushing(压垮的，毁灭性的) the economy. These days another subject is at the top of their list(高居他们榜单之首): organised crime.
本十年之初，如果你问南非企业的老板们，国家面临的最大问题是什么，多数人会说是电力。无休止的停电正压垮经济。而如今，另一个话题高居他们榜单之首：有组织犯罪。
South Africa has long had an underworld(地下世界，黑社会). Now criminality threatens the overworld(地上世界，合法社会): the state and formal business. The threat has been dramatically documented in an inquiry(调查，质询) led by Mbuyiseli Madlanga(南非退休法官，领导公开调查委员会), a retired judge, that marked the end of its first year on September 17th. Its televised hearings have featured more skeletons than a Halloween party(丑闻比万圣节派对的骷髅还多)—and revealed how mafias have capture(把持，控制)d the criminal-justice system. Whether South Africa can stop the rot will be a defining test of its democracy.(南非能否阻止腐败蔓延，将是对其民主制度的一次决定性考验。)
南非长期以来一直存在一个地下世界。如今，犯罪活动正威胁着地上世界：国家与正规商业。退休法官姆布伊塞利·马德兰加领导的一项调查戏剧性地记录了这种威胁，该调查于9月17日迎来一周年。其电视转播的听证会爆出的丑闻比万圣节派对上的骷髅还多，并揭示了黑帮如何把持刑事司法系统。南非能否阻止腐败蔓延，将是对其民主制度的一次决定性考验。
The Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC(全球打击跨国有组织犯罪倡议)) ranks South Africa seventh-worst of 193 countries for organised criminality, behind only Myanmar, Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador, Paraguay and Congo, and worse than Brazil. Mark Shaw, the group’s boss, says the country’s record has worsened in each biennial(两年一次的) report since they began in 2019. The World Bank says that crime costs South Africa at least 10% of GDP a year in stolen property, high security and insurance costs, and “missed economic opportunities”. “Organised crime is now the most immediate(最直接的，紧迫的) threat to our democracy, our society and our economic development,” Cyril Ramaphosa(南非总统), the president, told parliament in February.
全球打击跨国有组织犯罪倡议（GI-TOC）将南非的有组织犯罪严重程度列为193个国家中的第七差，仅次于缅甸、哥伦比亚、墨西哥、厄瓜多尔、巴拉圭和刚果，比巴西更糟。该组织负责人马克·肖表示，自2019年首份报告发布以来，南非的纪录在每份双年度报告中都在恶化。世界银行称，犯罪每年至少让南非损失10%的GDP，包括被盗财产、高昂的安保与保险成本以及“错失的经济机会”。南非总统西里尔·拉马福萨2月对议会表示：“有组织犯罪如今是对我们的民主、社会和经济发展最直接的威胁。”