Crime, Community and the Governance of Violence in Post-Apartheid South Africa

Abstract

The South African government has embarked on a programme of encouraging social cohesion in South Africa first to address concerns stemming from high levels of violent crime which characterise the society, and second, to foster positive national identity in a complex, heterogeneous, racialised and stratified nation. Through a discussion of the impact of violent crime on emergent forms of community, this paper argues that the practices of communities evolving in the post-apartheid period show tendencies toward fragmentation rather than unification, undermining efforts of ‘nation-building’.

Notes

Ibid., and also Scheper-Hughes (1992, chapter 20).

It is worth bearing in mind that in 1996 more than 74 per cent of police stations were located in formerly white areas.

An example of this is the Business Against Crime initiative (www.bac.co.za).

See also Peterson (2003).

Partha Chatterjee (2006) has noted this space as the domain of ‘political society’.

For a critical reflection on this by a senior member of the African National Congress and the South African Communist Party, cf. Sheehan (2002).

The ‘strict’ definition does not include people who are unemployed and are no longer seeking a job.

This trend is also noted in the study by Altman (2006) and Trieghaardt (2006).

On occult belief and neo-liberalism, see Comaroff and Comaroff (1999).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Suren Pillay

∗Democracy and Governance, Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa & Political Studies, University of the Western Cape, South Africa. Email: [email protected]