Abstract
Iconic images, such as the photograph of Hector Petersen, the thirteen year old boy shot by police in 1976 at the onset of the Soweto uprising, serve as powerful reminders of the brutality of apartheid. The National Party regime marked a time of great suffering for black South Africans. Televised images of white police beating and shooting black protestors exposed the racist violence of apartheid to the world. Steve Biko’s murder in police custody, popularised in the west by the movie Cry Freedom, was further emblematic of the apartheid regime. As a student in Canada at the time, the writer of this article was greatly influenced by these events and images, and subsequently spent several years in South Africa conducting research on crime, social conflict and policing. This article concentrates on the relationship between personal security and the concept of ‘apartheid nostalgia’, not among white diehards, but among residents of Soweto.
Highlights
80 interviews conducted over the past two years as part of an ongoing research project, depict the townships of the apartheid era as much safer than they are today
The National Party regime marked a time of great suffering for black South Africans
Newspapers intended for African readers such as the Bantu World and Golden City Post, as well as some of the mainstream English papers, reported extensively on the crime problem in the townships
Summary
80 interviews conducted over the past two years as part of an ongoing research project, depict the townships of the apartheid era as much safer than they are today. Personal security concerns in South African townships Residents complained that the South African Police (SAP) and local municipal police prosecuted pass and liquor offenders and ignored serious crime.
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