Increased Gang Crime In South Africa Sociology Essay

Since the end of Apartheid, crime has started to raise more in South Africa making it a national

leader in home invasion and gang crimes (BBC). These gang s are mostly young

Africans between the age of thirteen and fourteen years old. Their membership started as early as

age six (BBC News). In 2000 the child protection organization Childline wrote a national

report that brought concern to the growing crime rate in South Africa. (Childline

Publications 2000). “Lynn Cawood, Director of Childline stated that the children in Africa are

scared with fear because daily violence is everywhere. African gangs are making it hard for

African youth to stay out of trouble. Guns are easy to buy on South Africa streets and gangs

have many guns.

AIDS and street violence is a large part of how kids become part of foster care. This

reminds me of growing up in Cherry Hill. In Cherry Hill people from the bottom of Cherry Hill

are at war with people that live at the top of Cherry Hill, South Africa is just like South

Baltimore.

My report will help me learn more about problems in South African and what need to be done

to help the people living in South Africa.

It seems that instead of getting better there are those that are still suffering and some more than

others, just like living in Cherry Hill and East Baltimore. The people who always hurt the most

are the children because of AIDS, gangs and killings.

South African kids are being left without parents to help them. Because so many kids are

now in foster care, street gangs looks like a safe place.

These kids are being used to do what gang members tell them. Some of the young girls have

been raped and made to work the streets having sex for money and then turn the money over to

gang leaders. The young boys are being used to break into houses and fight other neighborhoods

gangs for control. (Violent Crime and Rape, Mc Kendrick B).

South African neighborhoods can be really violent just like some of the neighborhoods in Cherry

Hill. This is why I wanted to write my paper about another country. I wanted to see if the crime,

killings and gangs were similar to where I grew up in Cherry Hill.

In South Africa in the 1980s rape was happening as much as 16,000 times in one year.

(Deming, M. B. The Sociology of Rape)

Jackroll is used to talk about taking women and girls raping them and sometime keep them for

days. The JACKROLLERS who took over some of South African neighborhood from 1987 to

1988. (Mokwea, A. The Era of the Jackrollers, Soweto)

The Jackrollers grew in South African towns and helped to raise youth violence, gang violence

and killings. What made Jackrollers different from other gangs is the rape cases.

They were done by all youth gangs and sometimes they would keep women and young

girls for days, sometimes they killed them. Next, these rapes were done in the open and the gang

members did not hide their faces. This was done to make neighborhoods fear them. These rapes

would happen in bars, on the streets, schools and night clubs.

Evaluation of Resources

The Gangs, killings and Violence in South Africa is a growing problem. This source gives

information on how gangs developed in South African neighborhoods and helped raised high

unemployment, AIDS and neighborhood problems. Mokewa talks about the violence he seen

and people were afraid to say anything for their own safety. This is just like Cherry Hill and

Baltimore, there is a lot of shooting, robbing and killing but people do anything to make the

neighborhood better. The gang Jackrollers got their start in the 1980s. The source also looks at

how APARTHEID in South Africa may have helped start this violence. This source helps look at

Violence that blacks do to other blacks. This is the same today in Baltimore gangs like

BGF, COMRADS, BLOODS, CRIPS rule the streets and the police can not catch them all the time.

The book also talked about violent crimes and street justice that in some neighborhoods can

become the everyday thing to accept. This is to say that the people committing these crimes have

made crime something you have to live with every day because some people can not move, they

just don’t have the money. The source also says that some young men in Africa are likely to

rape and join gangs depending on where they live and that there is no police involvement.

This source focus on the gangs and how they got started. I will also talk about sources that

will help me take a look at what South Africa started to do to correct this problem and how these

gangs started going to jail and the streets became safe. Other sources will help show

how these gang rapes and violence raised AIDS rate.

I will also talk about the children that became foster children because of AIDS and the

young girls and boys that have the disease from rape and gang sex.

Analysis

People have become strong about having power and in South Africa the male gangs are made up

of young boys who feel that gangs gives them this power. Rape and street fighting

is something that can happen everyday in some neighborhoods. From reading,

I have learned that rape and violence is a way to oppress and control people. (Sharon Lewis,

Gang Rape and the Culture of Violence in South Africa)

There are many ways that gangs control hole neighborhoods in South Africa. Sometimes when

there is crime; the family can be made to watch as fathers and sons are being beaten. Other

times they are made to watch as sisters are raped and taken for days. This is done to make some

men feel that they have lost their manhood and to make woman feel that she is now owned

because she has no protection (Sharon Lewis, 39). For some black men apartheid caused

problems that made them feel like there was no way out. They turned to gangs to show how they

were made to feel against the government. This violence is done against there own people and

anyone who is seen to be weak. I have read about the gangs in South African and feel that it’s

hard to live in some neighborhoods and not join. I feel that you have to join or you and your

family could be killed. Some people can get out and some have to stay because they don’t have

money. Conflict has a part in South Africa culture and has been a part of tribal society (Sharon

Lewis).In some parts of South Africa violence is seen as a street culture of male bonding and

people who don’t get involved in some type of street crime is seen different; like they are not the

same.

Homeless, poor and young people in South Africa are suffering from crime and sickness. The

black people in South Africa were forced to live in areas that are basically all black

before apartheid and many remain after apartheid. Say that these people were living in rural areas

that made up 27% of South Africa land in 1997. From my reading, I have learned that South

Africans came from many tribes and had to go a long way to work. Some of these men were

away from home for a year and the children had to take care of there self. There mothers had to

work and stayed where they did house cleaning and some stayed home with their children when

they could stay. I can see how the kids were able to get into gangs and how young girls got

raped. These kids had to take care of there self and younger sisters and brothers while their mom

and dad worked to send money home. The break up of the South African family changed they

way children were taken care of and who would care for them. Older sisters and brothers left

alone had more time on the streets that helped get them into gangs and trouble. Some times

parents would not come back and the kids were left homeless some also started using drugs.

Drugs are a big problem in South Africa kids steal and rob to get drugs.

Conclusion

Gangs have become a big problem for the government and the Police. This problem have caused

many meetings to deal with the problem the government can do more and the problem is getting

since the end of apartheid. Because of apartheid many gang crime go un-checked by police and

the government. These gang crimes are happening in a large number in black towns and

to get noticed when the border gates were open after apartheid. From the reading, this helped

gangs like the American Mafia, Chinese Triads and the Russian Mafia come into the towns and

push drugs and gangs. This has helped push the gangs and they are able to grow with help from

outside people buying and selling drugs in south Africa.