Bitter fight for 'green gold' as gangs target South Africa's avocados

Workers harvesting avocados in South Africa. Photos: Nicole Macheroux-Denault/ICUC productions/dpa

Organised crime in South Africa has a new field of business: Avocados, a trade so lucrative due to the fruit's boom in popularity that they are now known as "green gold".

For Zander Ernst, the biggest fear is that the situation will escalate and people will die in the bitter struggle for the fruit.