This paper looks at the effects of political and criminal violence on township children. It focuses on children as victims rather than perpetrators of violence, although the latter can also be said to be victims of violence.
This paper addresses the issue of violence against women and children in South African townships. It argues that the problems of domestic violence and the brutalisation of women and children cannot, except at very grave risk, be relegated to a structural problem within the environment of the homestead. It is intimately related to levels of violence in our society more generally – a society grappling with the legacy of apartheid and the fear-instilling process of socio-political transformation.
This paper examines the high incidence of rape in South Africa. The focus of the paper is on the phenomenon of gang rape, which in many ways crystallises the power issue which is at the nexus of rape.
Since the beginning of the negotiation process in South Africa, the civic movement has moved away from a culture of resistance towards one of development. This paper argues that development projects, even in coherent communities, can serve as a catalyst for a great deal of internal conflict. It also argues that the way forward is to recognise the conflictual nature of development, and to negotiate within the "community" on this basis.
This paper draws on interviews held in October and November 1991 with 34 residents of Alexandra and 18 key informants associated with defence, policing, health and welfare, education and the administration of the township. The paper attempts to profile how violent crime has impacted upon the lives of people living in an area of Alexandra, Gauteng. The research locates the broader questions about the nature, extent, impact and control of violent crime within the narrow context of a small, community-based study focusing on the respondents' perceptions of, and reactions to violent crime.
The involuntary confinement of the mentally ill describes the legal process by which a person is imprisoned for an indeterminate period not because they have committed any criminal act but because they are allegedly ill. This paper raises a series of concerns with this practice, and its implementation in South Africa. It concludes by offering a series of legal and legislative reforms concerning the practice.