Notes

Published in Monograph No 72, March 2002

Violent Justice, Vigilantism and the State's Response

  1. M Schonteich, Justice versus Retribution: Attitudes to punishment in the Eastern Cape, ISS Monograph Series Number 45, Pretoria, February 2000.

  2. M Coleman, Crime Against Humanity, Analysing the Repression of the of the Apartheid State, David Philip, Cape Town, 1998, p 113.

  3. Ibid.

  4. R Lee and J Seekings, Vigilantism and Popular Justice after Apartheid, 2001.

  5. J Seekings, Why people support vigilantism?, presentation at a roundtable at the Institute for Security Studies, 1st March 2001.

  6. Ibid.

  7. Makhotla - a Sotho word which originally referred to traditional courts but was later used to refer to informal township courts led mainly by elderly people.

  8. J Hund, Formal Justice and Township Justice, in Law and Justice in South Africa, Center for Intergroup Studies, Cape Town, 1988, p 205.

  9. Ibid.

  10. M Coleman, op cit.

  11. Ibid.

  12. J Hund, op cit.

  13. Ibid.

  14. Ibid.

  15. D Nina, Rethinking popular justice: Self-regulation and civil society in South Africa, Community Peace Foundation, Cape Town, 1995.

  16. J Seekings, The Revival of People's Courts, Informal Justice in Transitional South Africa, South African Review, no 16, 1992, p 187.

  17. Ibid.

  18. W Scharf, Community Justice and Restorative Justice in World Perspective, Presentation at a conference at the Human Rights Center, Faculty of Law, Queens University, West Belfast, 7 May 1999.

  19. J M Magolego, presentation at a seminar on vigilantism at the ISS in Pretoria, 8 June 2001. Interviews with Bulldog Rathokolo of Sector 4, Alexandra in Johannesburg, August 2000. Field interviews with various stakeholders, including victims, police, members of vigilante groups, NGOs and political parties, members of the community policing forums in the Northern Province, the Western Cape and Gauteng.

  20. L Johnston, What is Vigilantism?, British Journal of Criminology, Volume 36, Number 2, Spring 1996, p 220.

  21. C Knox and R Monaghan, Informal criminal justice systems in Northern Ireland, Economic & Social Research Council Violence Research Project, University of Ulster, June 2000.

  22. C Africa, J Christie, R Mattes, M Roefs and H Taylor, Crime and community action: Pagad and the Cape Flats, 1996-1997, Public Opinion Service Reports, Number 4, Cape Town, Idasa, June 1998. Also J M Magolego, presentation at a seminar on vigilantism at the ISS in Pretoria, 8 June 2001 and interview, May 2000 in Glencowie, Northern Province. Also Dimensions of the continuing violence in Tsolo and Qumbu: Murder, gun-running, stock theft and intimidation, Special Report 4, Johannesburg, Human Rights Committee, 1997.

  23. This section on crime trends is drawn from M Schonteich and A Louw, Crime in South Africa: a country and cities profile, ISS Paper No 49, April 2001.

  24. For an in-depth discussion about the problems of reporting and recording crime and the accuracy of police crime statistics in South Africa, see M Schonteich and A Louw, op cit.

  25. For the purposes of this paper violent crime comprises murder and attempted murder, rape and attempted rape, and all forms of robbery and assault.

  26. International crime statistics 1997, International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol), Lyon in: The incidence of serious crime January to June 1999, Semester Report 2/99, Pretoria, Crime Information Analysis Centre, SAPS, November 1999.

  27. Statistics supplied by SAPS Management Services, Pretoria, 2000.

  28. E Pelser and A Louw, Community policing and police service improvement study, unpublished report for the Department of Safety and Security, February 2001.

  29. M Schonteich, Lawyers for the people: The South Africa Prosecution Service, ISS Monograph Series Number 53, 2001.

  30. Ibid.

  31. Ibid.

  32. Ibid.

  33. KC Goyer, Prison privatisation in South Africa: Issues, challenges and opportunities, ISS Monograph Number 64, Pretoria, July 2001.

  34. M Schonteich, Crime and confidence: Voters' perceptions of crime, Nedbank ISS Crime Index, Volume 4 Number 2, 2000.

  35. R Hirschowitz, P Buwembo, J Serwadda-Luwaga, H Nasholm, Victims of Crime Survey, Statistics South Africa, Pretoria, 1998.

  36. E Pelser, A critical distance: Public perceptions and police service, Nedbank ISS Crime Index, Volume 5 Number 3, 2001.

  37. C Africa et al, op cit.

  38. M Schonteich, Justice versus Retribution: Attitudes to punishment in the Eastern Cape, op cit.

  39. Ibid.

  40. Ibid.

  41. C Africa et al, op cit.

  42. Ibid, p 25.

  43. Ibid, p 31.

  44. M Schonteich, Justice versus Retribution: Attitudes to punishment in the Eastern Cape, op cit, p 47.

  45. Ibid. p 2.

  46. Ibid, p 47.

  47. R Humphries, Corruption and confidence: Public perceptions of corruption, Nedbank ISS Crime Index, Volume 4 Number 4, 2000.

  48. E Pelser and A Louw, op cit. p 21.

  49. A Louw, M Shaw, L Camerer & R Robertshaw, Crime in Johannesburg: Results of a City Victim Survey, ISS monograph series Number 18, Institute for Security Studies, Halfway House, February 1998; See L Camerer, A Louw, M Shaw, L Artz & W Scharf, Crime in Cape Town: Results of a City Victim Survey, ISS monograph series Number 23, Institute for Security Studies, Halfway House, April 1998; A Louw, Crime in Pretoria: Results of a City Victim Survey, Institute for Security Studies and Idasa, Halfway House 1998, R Robertshaw, A Louw, M Shaw, M Mashiyane, S Brettell, Reducing crime in Durban: A victim survey and safer city strategy, ISS Monograph series Number 58, Institute for Security Studies, Pretoria, August 2001.

  50. C Africa et al, op cit.

  51. S Masuku, Policing the police: SAPS members charged and convicted of crime, Nedbank ISS Crime Index, Volume 5 Number 2, 2001.

  52. Ibid.

  53. E Pelser, A Louw and S Ntuli, Poor safety: Crime and policing in South Africa's rural areas, ISS Monograph Series, Number 47 May 2000.

  54. Department of Safety and Security, In service of safety, White Paper on Safety and Security 1999-2004, Pretoria 1998, pg 2. Also see M Brogden and C Shearing, Policing for a new South Africa, Routledge, London, 1993; G Cawthra, South Africa's Police: From police state to democratic policing? Catholic Institute for International Relations, London, 1992; G Cawthra, Policing South Africa, Zed Books, London, 1993; E Marais, Policing the Periphery: Police and society in South Africa's "homelands", Paper presented to the 22nd Congress of the Association of Sociology in SA, Pretoria, 30 June 1992; C Plasket, Subcontracting the dirty work, in T W Bennet, DJ Devin, DB Hutchinson, I Leeman and D van Zyl Smit, Policing and the Law, Juta, Cape Town, 1989.

  55. A Altbeker, quoted in E Pelser, A Louw and S Ntuli, op cit, p 61.

  56. See Statistics South Africa, Census in Brief, Statistics SA Pretoria 1998.

  57. E Pelser, A Louw and S Ntuli, op cit, pp 61-63.

  58. Community Dispute Resolution Structures, South African Law Commission, Discussion Paper 87, Project 84, Pretoria 31 October 1999.

  59. Ibid, p 3.

  60. C Africa et al, op cit, p19.

  61. M Schonteich, Justice versus Retribution: Attitudes to Punishment in the Eastern Cape, op cit, p 46.

  62. Ibid, p 98.

  63. Ibid, p 50.

  64. M Sekhonyane, Using crime to fight crime? Tracking vigilante activity, Nedbank ISS Crime Index,Volume 4 Number 4, 2000.

  65. MV Benevides and RM Fischer Ferreira, Popular Responses and Urban Violence: Lynching in Brazil, in M Huggins (Ed) Vigilantism and the Modern State: Essays on Extra-Legal Violence, Praeger publishers, New York, 1991, p 34.

  66. SAPS Mapogo-a-Mathamaga Unit in Northern Province, 2000 and see M Sekhonyane, op cit.

  67. A presentation by Jeremy Seekings at the ISS seminar on vigilantism in Pretoria on 1 March 2001.

  68. C Africa, J Christie, R Mattes, M Roefs and H Taylor, op cit. Also see H Boshoff, A Botha and M Schonteich, Fear in the City, Urban Terrorism in South Africa, ISS Monograph Number 63, Pretoria, September 2001.

  69. E Pelser, A Louw, S Ntuli, op cit.

  70. South African Year Book, 1996, p 22.

  71. E Pelser, A Louw, S Ntuli, op cit.

  72. Ibid.

  73. South African Police Services, Northern Province, May 2000.

  74. M Schonteich, A thin blue line: Police resources in the provinces, Nedbank ISS Crime Index, Volume 4 Number 2, 2000. Also, statistics supplied by SAPS Management Services, Pretoria, 2001.

  75. Auditor-General's report on the financial statements of vote 29 - South African Police Service and the Secretariat for Safety and Security, year ending March 2000.

  76. E Pelser, A Louw, S Ntuli, op cit.

  77. These were the available statistics from the South African Police Services, before the 2000 moratorium was imposed which prevented the release of crime statistics to the public.

  78. A von Schnitzler, G Ditlhage, L Kgamela, T Maepa, T Mofokeng, P Pigou, Gaurdian or Gangster? Mapogo-a-Mathamaga: a case study, Violence and Transition Series 3, Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, Braamfontein, 2001.

  79. Ibid, p 15.

  80. Ibid, p 12.

  81. D Nina, Dirty Harry is Back, African Security Review, Volume 9.1, 2000.

  82. The Jane Furse office has since closed down following the conflict between Magolego and the exe-cutive members.

  83. Interview with a SAPS captain assigned to Diepsloot. Diepsloot has no police station and is covered by the police station in Erasmia which is at least 20km from the sprawling informal settlement.

  84. Interview with Mashilo, Mapogo's general-secretary at Jane Furse, May 2000.

  85. Interview ith Montle Magolego in Glencowie, May 2000.

  86. Ibid.

  87. Interview with Mashilo, op cit.

  88. Interview Nebo station commissioner, May 2000.

  89. A von Scnitzler et al, op cit, p 21.

  90. Interview with Isaac Maepa, Communications desk, Office of the Premier, Northern Province, May 2000. See also A von Schnitzler et al, ibid.

  91. Interview with Magolego in Glencowie, June 2000.

  92. A von Schnitzler, op cit.

  93. Ibid.

  94. A von Schnitzler et al, op cit, p 23.

  95. Ibid, pp 24-25. See also J Steinberg, Marketing vigilantism, Business Day, 12 July 2001.

  96. Interview with Isaac Maepa, op cit.

  97. Magolego's interview by D Aitkenhead, Rough Justice, Mail and Guardian, May 29, 2000.

  98. Statistics provided by the SAPS unit investigating Mapogo, Pietersburg.

  99. Police presentation at the ISS seminar on vigilantism in the Northern Province, Pietersburg, 31 July 2001.

  100. Information provided by SAPS Communications Department in the Northern Province, 31 July 2001.

  101. Summary report on the Integrated Justice System, Pretoria, 17 November 1998.

  102. SAPS head office management services, quoted in J Redpath, 'Leaner and meaner'? Restructuring the detective service, forthcoming ISS monograph, 2002.

  103. Tsolo Battleground, Human Rights Committee Special Report, Port Elizabeth, 1996.

  104. Quarterly review on popular justice, Human Rights Committee, Johannesburg, January 2001.

  105. J Redpath, op cit.

  106. Ibid.

  107. National Prosecuting Authority Act no 32 of 1998. Most of the Act came into effect on 16 October 1998.

  108. From the address by B Ngcuka (National Director of Public Prosecutions) at the Pretoria Press Club on 28 February 2001, quoted in E Pelser, J Rauch & S Henkeman, DFID Review: Safety, Security and Access to Justice, Discussion document, 31 March 2001.

  109. M Schonteich, Criminal justice monitoring service briefing, ISS, Pretoria, 15 February 2002.

  110. M Schonteich, Deadly poison for criminals: The scorpions take form, Nedbank ISS Crime Index, Volume 4 Number 5, 2001.

  111. Ibid.

  112. S Rasool, Sexual offences courts: Do more courts mean better justice?, Nedbank ISS Crime Index, Volume 4 Number 2, 2000; L Vetten, While women wait…(2) Can specialist sexual offences courts and centers reduce secondary victimization?, Nedbank ISS Crime Index, Volume 5 Number 3, 2001.

  113. Department of Public Service Administration, Public Services Regulations 1999, Government Gazette Volume 409, no 20117, 1 July 1999.

  114. E Pelser and A Louw, op cit.

  115. E Pelser, J Rauche and S Henkeman, op cit, pp 34-35.

  116. Criminal Procedure Act no 51 of 1977, sections 58-60, as amended by Act no 85 of 1997, referred to in M Schonteich, Lawyers for the people: The South African Prosecution Service, op cit.

  117. Ibid.

  118. M Schonteich, Attitudes to sentencing: Public opinion vs legislation, Nedbank ISS Crime Index, Volume 3, Number 6, 1999.

  119. Empirical study of sentencing practices in South Africa, Research Paper 17, South African Law Commission, Pretoria, 2000.

  120. Ibid, p 13.

  121. M Schonteich, Legislation against terrorism: Tough anti-terrorism law proposed, Nedbank ISS Crime Index, Volume 5 Number 4, Pretoria, 2001.

  122. Ibid.

  123. E Pelser and A Louw, op cit. See also the Department of Safety and Security Community Policing Policy Framework and Guidelines, 1997.

  124. E Pelser, Going through the motions: Community police forums, eight years on, Nedbank ISS Crime Index, Volume 5 Number 5, 2001.

  125. E Pelser and A Louw, op cit.

  126. Interview with B Rathokolo of Sector 4, Alexandra, 18 July 2001.

  127. B Rathokolo, presentation at ISS seminar, Pretoria, 8 June 2001.

  128. Interview with members of the Sector 4 at the Alexandra police station, October 2000.

  129. Community Dispute Resolution Structures, Discussion paper 87, Project 94, South African Law Commission, Pretoria, 1999.

  130. Ibid.