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TUESDAY 10 March 2020 | Tel: 021 910 6500 | Email: post@peoplespost.co.za | Website: www.peoplespost.co.za
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People’s Post
Gang culture is rife on the Cape Flats. PHOTO: SAMANTHA LEE-JACOBS
GANG CULTURE
Breaking the cycle SAMANTHA LEE-JACOBS SAMANTHA.LEE@PEOPLESPOST.CO.ZA @SAMANTHA_LEE121
“T
o become men, black men go to the bush, white men went to the army and coloured men go to prison.” This was the concerning statement relayed to provincial minister for community safety, Albert Fritz, during a visit to local prisons. The aim of the visit was to interact with prisoners who would be able to assist the department in formulating reformative programmes for at-risk youth to ensure they did not get caught up in a life of gangsterism and crime. “I was very worried about this statement because something must be done to change this mindset,” says Fritz. While gangsterism exists all over the world and throughout the broader South Africa, it has become synonymous with the Cape Flats. Here, police say, children as young as six are recruited into gangs. Chezron Fouten, who grew up in Tafelsig, left gangsterism behind while serving a 10year prison sentence for murder and gun possession. Before he reached puberty, Fouten had washed the blood of countless victims from his hands, convicted of the serious crime at only 10-years-old. “I was involved in gangsterism for 17 years. I started when I was seven. At that time I didn’t get the love I wanted from
my mother and I did not grow up with a father. It was then that I started looking for friends and the friends I became involved with were gangsters. That is how it all started,” says Fouten. “I was a hitman for the gang and I was good. I took out some of the top guys. The murder I was convicted of was the only one they caught me for. I was sentenced to 10 years in prison for murder and gun possession and when I was inside, I became a member of the 28s gang.” The cycle of young arrests for gang and serious crimes is also something under review, says Fritz. “When a child gets arrested anywhere, whether it be Mitchell’s Plain, Hanover Park or wherever (something must be done). Any other child is normally at school, any other child belongs with his or her family. They belong to us,” says Fritz. “When a child is arrested, we must stop wanting to throw them away. This is why the Western Cape Safety Plan is so important. What that plan speaks to is when a child is arrested, that we use the principle clause of diversion. We take those children and try to save them and to get rid of the whole gangster thinking. We need to put these children in a programme and walk with them for at least a few years. We assist them with skills development and then we hand them over for a further intervention.” The diversion clause refers to children being placed in reformative programmes rather than incarcerating them.
In a 2003 National Assembly meeting on the Child Justice Bill, members of Parliament discussed the clause of diversion in detail, acknowledging several constitutional matters. The minutes read: “On the issue of whether diversion is constitutional from the victim’s perspective, particularly in relation to serious offences such as rape and murder, the Community Law Centre makes reference to section 12(1)(c) of the Constitution. It provides that ‘everyone has the right to freedom and security of the person, which includes the right to be free from all forms of violence from either public or private sources’.” The deliberations further speak to a victim’s right to life, human dignity and freedom and security of the person. According to an article published by Unicef South Africa, around 38 000 youths are arrested in the Western Cape each year. For many of these youths this stems from the established gang culture in the province. Reformed gangster and drug addict Ashley Hendricks says gangsters are role models in their communities. “We see them wearing nice clothes, we see them drive cars and being respected by so many. It is only when you are in the gangs that you realise it’s not all it’s cut out to be.” Hendricks was a member of a local gang and says this was a tough time in his life. He was 12 when he first got involved, and he says it was then that he became “a man”. “There are things I don’t want to talk about. Things I saw, things I had to do,” he says.
Hendricks says leaving was hard. “But I know it needed to be done. I was always told, once you’re in, you can’t get out. Not only out of the gang but also away from the boxes people put you in. They see my tattoos and still say I’m a gangster.” In a recent study conducted by Dr Jane Kelly for her University of Cape Town (UCT) doctoral thesis, she interviewed several former gangsters in the hope of understanding the gang culture. “I was interested in not only the process of exiting a gang but how they maintained that after they had left the gang because there’s often a risk of rejoining, particularly in the context of poverty and unemployment,” said Kelly in a statement. Many of the people she spoke to came from broken homes and families where love and a sense of belonging were absent. This was the same for both Fouten and Hendricks who lacked father figures. Fritz says this is a common factor that must be addressed through programmes if needed. Kelly further found that for many the turning point is finding God. She pointed out that disillusionment with the gang and choosing to desist is not a single event: “This is a process that unfolds over time, [with them] coming to realise that, ‘No, they’re not there for me. That isn’t what I want for my life anymore’.” Religion emerged as a key factor, giving them a sense of meaning, belonging, absolution and a new community. V Continued on page 2.