The purpose of this paper is to contextualise the emerging of a violent gang culture (jackroll) in the period following the township unrest of the mid-80s. The paper argues that the rise of youth gangs and wanton youth violence is equally intricately connected to the crisis of capitalism.
The Black Sash and its rural project, the Transvaal Rural Action Committee (TRAC), approached the Project for the Study of Violence to undertake this research. It serves as a warning against the belief that the scrapping of the Land Acts will put an end to the varying forms of violence on the farms.
This paper, which contains excerpts from interviews with hostel dwellers, seeks to unveil some of the reasons behind their participation, and so presents the 'human face of violence.' It attempts to contextualise direct questions about the violence within, first, the broader historical conditions that have characterised the hostel community and, second, the broader political processes that have had an impact on the lives of hostel dwellers.
Dramatic developments in South African politics since mid-1991 put the spotlight on the critical role of the security forces in a transitional period of reform. Previous issues include media revelations of collusion between the security establishment and the lnkatha Freedom Party, biased policing of the violence and the reshuffle of the key Law & Order and Defence portfolios. To complement Clifford Shearing's review of the draft Peace Accord unveiled in August 1991, Janine Rauch evaluates previous institutional reforms within the South African Police.
This paper addresses itself to the concerns that have been voiced about the effect of years of exposure to high levels of political violence on South Africa's children. It responds to evidence that exposure to violence causes short-term psychological suffering and concerns that it may have more fundamental consequences for their psychological development and future behaviour.
This paper suggests that rehabilitation is the process which makes it possible for an institutionalised and ostracised individual to function as a responsible citizen by enabling him to exercise his rights to meet his obligations. This does not address the dilemma of rehabilitation should the individual not have rights or the resources necessary to meet his obligations. This paper examines the likelihood of successful rehabilitation for two contrasting examples: firstly of an individual whose primary material needs cannot be met and secondly of an individual whose material needs can be realised and whose primary requirements would be social and personal rehabilitation.