December 5, 2003 - Manager of the Criminal Justice programme of the South African Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, Amanda Dissel presented the article Youth, Street Gangs and Violence in South Africa at an international symposium in the Ivory Coast. The paper explores some of the factors that lead South African youth to find their home and sense of belonging on the street and the link between street youth and gangs.
Dissel addresses the role of urbanisation and re-settlement in South Africa, pointing out the previous Apartheid government’s policy of separate development, which confined the black population to poorly developed rural areas; with the relaxation of apartheid laws, many black South Africans moved to informal settlements on the outskirts of large cities. The apartheid system also largely destroyed extended families and the necessity of earning a wage and adjustment to urban life further affected the traditional family system.
Apartheid past
Family breakdown was particularly felt by children and young people, who had previously found support from the traditional system as they gravitated toward adulthood. Many marginalised youth found acceptance within the structure of street gangs. As Dissel writes, “these youth formations, though different in many respects, offer the youth similar attractions: a sense of identity and belonging through the colours of the flag of political affiliation, or the medals of honour in the gang.”
Due to the separation of racial groups in Apartheid-era South Africa, street gangs vary according to each racial group. For instance, in the “Coloured” (mixed-race) communities of the country, gang roots date back to the formation of apartheid. The community and youth were alienated from the anti-apartheid struggle, often not identifying with either black or white South Africans, and remain alienated in post-Apartheid South Africa.
“Coloured” and black gangs
Coloured youth grow up on the streets, writes Dissel, unable to escape violence and/or the effects of the alcohol abuse which are prevalent in many homes. Many such young people are drawn into gangs involved in the drug trade due to the fact that their parents are gang members, so they naturally take on the inherited roles of their fathers. “The gangs provide members with a sense of belonging, as well as opportunities for economic improvement and for gaining a sense of power, acceptance and purpose.”
In contrast, young people in South Africa’s black communities affiliated themselves with political groups involved in the liberation struggle. Dissel writes that “these youth perceived themselves as frontline soldiers in the struggle for social and political change, and therefore, as defenders of their communities. In fighting against the system […] they became the army for liberation. The struggle provided them with an alternative structure, a sense of belonging and purpose, and with a sense of identity in their new status as liberators.”
During the negotiated transition, the armed struggle was suspended and the political leaders called on the youth to curtail their resistance activities. When the youth movement lost its leadership role in the struggle for liberation, some of the structures attempted to redefine their purpose. Inequality and deprivation are still the primary experiences of township youth, and for many, the only way to achieve real change is through participation in collective violence.
COAV researcher Ted Leggett of the Crime and Justice Programme of the South African Institute for Security Studies explores many of the same issues that Dissel addresses in her paper, including youth involvement in organised organized violence and the Coloured community.
Source: the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation
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