‘We must infiltrate thetsotsis’: school politics and youth gangs in Soweto, 1968–1976

Black Consciousness's Lost Leader: Abraham Tiro, the University of the North, and the Seeds of South Africa's Student Movement in the 1970s

“…39 In an interview with Clive Glaser, Jake Msimanga, a student at Sekano Ntoana High School during 1972, said that teachers who had been exTurfloop students were critical influencers of the 'conscientisation process' for high-school students. 40 Similar conscientisation was happening outside Soweto as well. Pandelani Nefolovhodwe, a member of the SRC committee that had invited Tiro to speak, also found employment as a teacher in Sibasa, Venda in 1973.…”

State Security in Transition: The War on Crime in Post Apartheid South Africa

“…However, the distinction between political violence and criminal or opportunistic violence during the 1980s was less clear to many youth than is often assumed (Simpson, 2001;Glaser, 1996). The ending of the anti-apartheid struggle did not automatically translate into peace in the townships, or into an expansion of opportunities and support structures for the masses of young people.…”

“…The history of gangs in South Africa is incredibly Downloaded by [Nanyang Technological University] at 23:01 10 June 2016 complicated, intertwined with the history of the South African economy, migration, urbanisation and, of course, apartheid (Kinnes, 2000;Kynoch, 1999;Glaser, 1996;la Hausse, 1990). Law enforcement approaches that essentially seek to remove young men from their communities do not address why more young men will step in to take their places, reasons which range from resources, protection, masculinity, and a lack of alternatives, just to name just a few.…”

The development of informal governance in post-apartheid South Africa: Criminal gangs as neo-medieval agents

“…32 By and large, the gangs were apolitical with, for example, the limited efforts by Black Consciousness activists to coopt them meeting with little success. 33 Gangs therefore presented apartheid-era police with a useful resource. In order to gather intelligence on the opposition, and also to carry out attacks on them, both the army and police formed units that, in turn, forged close links with criminals in opposition areas.…”