South Africa, despite being considered a low-risk area for illegal logging, is grappling with a surge in environmental crimes, the Global Crime Index has shown. The country is not just a consumer of illegal timber and other flora products from neighbouring southern African countries, but is also a significant source country for wildlife crime, involving high-value species such as rhinos, lions, and elephants. Illegal trade of cycads is generating substantial profits, with some specimens fetching up to millions on the international market. The country has also witnessed a spike in incidents of violence between rangers and poachers, with the latter destroying wild plant specimens to inflate their value and reduce trading competition. The poaching of conophytum species has become more prevalent than illegal logging, with plant crime rarely prosecuted and minimal funding allocated to combat it.