Gang violence has been extensively highlighted as an issue of national concern in South Africa. Gangs also pose concerns about the social contexts of the communities in which they are found. The Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces have had the most prolific occurrences of gangsterism. Here gangs have demonstrated unique characteristics that set them apart from gangs in other areas. This article examines the context of gangsterism in the selected provinces by means of a comparative analysis. The purpose is to provide some strategies for effective intervention. The discussion also interrogates how or why intervention efforts may have failed and what could be improved in order to strengthen the chances of success of future interventions in affected communities.
Strangers in their own country': interpreting xenophobic symbology and gang subcultures in vulnerable coloured communitiesIn South Africa, xenophobia is most used and understood in relation to people from different nationalities, cultures or languages other than South African. Xenophobia is often interpreted as South Africans exhibiting prejudice or discrimination against people of other nationalities. This article seeks to reconstruct this "externality" notion, by arguing that xenophobic attitudes can also be directed internally. Du Pre (1992) in Strangers in their Own Country provided a political history of the coloured people of South Africa. A dominant feature of his analysis is the stigmatisation and marginalisation of coloured people throughout their history. This article posits that the stigmatisation and marginalisation of vulnerable coloured communities continue, and should be regarded as xenophobia. With reference to gang subcultures, the article shows how this xenophobia manifests in vulnerable gang-affected coloured communities, not only from the outside, but even within coloured communities themselves.
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