{"id":43642,"date":"2026-08-24T13:01:35","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T11:01:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=43642"},"modified":"2026-08-24T13:01:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T11:01:35","slug":"illicit-trade-wipes-out-85-000-sa-jobs","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/illicit-trade-wipes-out-85-000-sa-jobs\/","title":{"rendered":"Illicit trade wipes out 85 000 SA jobs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>South Africa\u2019s (SA) expanding black market is taking a heavy toll on the national economy, swallowing an estimated $75 billion and directly wiping out more than 85 000 formal sector jobs.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Trade groups like the Consumer Goods Council of SA report that illegal operations, spanning counterfeit cigarettes, bootleg alcohol, illicit fuel, and fake pharmaceuticals, are steadily undercutting legitimate businesses across the country.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Industry experts note that the rapid growth of illicit trade deprives the state of vital tax revenue while draining revenue from legal manufacturers.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In response, business groups and law enforcement are ramping up joint efforts to tighten border security and crack down on illegal distribution networks.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":43643,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-43642","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"SA's $75 billion illicit economy eliminates 85 000 formal jobs","published_date":"2026-08-24 12:59:14","news_description":"SA's $75 billion illicit economy eliminates 85 000 formal jobs","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/43642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/43642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43644,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/43642\/revisions\/43644"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=43642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}