CONTESTED GOVERNANCE: POLICE AND GANG INTERACTIONS Thesis by Irvin Kinnes Town KNNIRV001 Cape of In fulfilment of PhD: Criminology Department of Public Law, Faculty of Law University of Cape Town University June, 2017 Supervisor: Professor Clifford Shearing Co-Supervisor: Professor Elrena van der Spuy The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgementTown of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Cape Published by the University ofof Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University CONTESTED GOVERNANCE KINNES ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS For their patience and professional guidance throughout this long journey, I wish to acknowledge my supervisors: Clifford Shearing, without whom none of this would be possible, and Elrena van der Spuy, for her constant support and motivation. Thank you for not giving up on me. For their collegiality and support, I wish to thank my fellow PhD colleagues: Julie Berg, Suzall Timm, Woohyun Helena Chan, Moliehi Shale, Tom Herbstein, Laura Drivdal, Sophie Nakueira, Ben de Vos and Tariro Mutongwiza. To the people who have taken the time to read some of my early drafts, John J. Williams, Monique Marks, Don Pinnock, Gail Super, Sarah Henkeman, Roshila Nair, Fairuz Mullagee, Benita Moolman and Ricky Rontsch, thank you. To Elaine Atkins for all her administrative support and advice. To Lindiz van Zilla and Melissa Meyer who edited my manuscript and to all those close friends and colleagues in Manenberg and elsewhere who always supported and encouraged me. My sincerest thanks to you all. Finally, to my patient wife, Merle, our sons, Salvador and Connor, who suffered my irritable tantrums, stolen time, absent-mindedness and the occasional bouts of amnesia on this emotional roller-coaster. Thank you for you believing in me. Without you, I would not have persevered and finished this. CONTESTED GOVERNANCE KINNES iii DEDICATION For my parents, Dennis and Irene My wife Merle, our sons Salvador and Connor CONTESTED GOVERNANCE KINNES iv ABSTRACT Gangs in Cape Town have long been associated with high levels of violence and police efforts on the Cape Flats, while state agencies have not yet been able to bring any significant relief to the affected communities or growing gang structures. It seems the conventional approaches need reconceptualization. This thesis explores a nodal governance approach to the forms and consequences associated with the policing of gangs by police. Developments in governance theory has brought new insights for our understanding of how state and non-state actors relate in and across different networks, and especially within the security governance networks. However, such research has failed to consider how gangs and police interact and regulate each other through their own governance and conflict with one another. In attempts by the police to govern gangs (and by extension the community), a state of contested governance arises between gangs and police nodes of power. This thesis argues that contrary to previous understandings, the organised gangs of Cape Town regulate and impact the way the police police gangs, which in turn affects the way gangs police themselves, and goes on to explore these interactions. CONTESTED GOVERNANCE KINNES v Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................................... ii ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................. iv LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................... viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................. ix CHAPTER 1 ............................................................................................................................. 1 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Research question ...................................................................................................... 7 1.2 Reviewing the literature ............................................................................................ 9 1.3 Contribution to the literature ................................................................................. 10 1.4 Outline of the Chapters........................................................................................... 11 CHAPTER 2 ........................................................................................................................... 13 Literature Review .................................................................................................................. 13 2. Introduction ............................................................................................................. 13 2.1 International literature on gangs ........................................................................... 14 2.2 The changing nature of gangs ................................................................................ 18 2.3 South American gangs and violence ...................................................................... 21 2.3.2. Gangs in Africa......................................................................................................... 24 2.3.3 South African literature on gangs ........................................................................... 26 2.4 Summarising major trends in gang research .......................................................... 30 2.4.1 Literature on policing gangs .................................................................................... 31 2.4.2 The politicisation of gang units ............................................................................... 32 2.4.3 Gang culture and policing ....................................................................................... 36 2.4.4 The changing nature of policing ............................................................................. 39 2.5.1 Apartheid police culture ........................................................................................... 55 2.6 Contested governance ............................................................................................. 60 2.6.1 Definitions of governance ........................................................................................ 61 2.6.2 Contested governance............................................................................................... 63 3.1 Overview of gangs in Cape Town ........................................................................... 68 3.2 Forced removals, displacement and crime ............................................................ 69 3.3 New communities, old allegiances .......................................................................... 70 3.4 Organised, armed violent gangs ............................................................................. 72 3.5 The Cape Flats: The location of this study ........................................................... 75 3.6 Contextualising the policing of gangs and vigilantes of the Cape Flats ............. 76 3.7 The Peacemakers ..................................................................................................... 77 3.7.1 Policing the Peacemakers ........................................................................................ 78 3.8 Political policing ...................................................................................................... 80 3.9 Policing gangs and vigilantes .................................................................................. 81 CHAPTER 4 ........................................................................................................................... 84 4.1 Key research questions ........................................................................................... 85 4.2 Research methods in gang studies ......................................................................... 87 4.3 Research methods and data collection .................................................................. 90 CONTESTED GOVERNANCE KINNES vi 4.4 Negotiating access and interviews with imprisoned gang leaders ...................... 92 4.5 Participant Observation ......................................................................................... 95 4.5.1 Insider position as researcher................................................................................. 96 4.5.2 Ethics ........................................................................................................................ 97 4.6 Ethnographic fieldwork and participant observation ......................................... 98 4.6.1 Interviews ................................................................................................................. 99 4.6.2 Secondary data and documents ............................................................................. 101 4.6.3 Data analysis........................................................................................................... 103 4.7 Limitations as a researcher .................................................................................. 106 4.8 Moral and ethical dilemmas ...............................................................................