The Nexus of South African Police Service and Community Policing Forums in dismantling the ‘Boko Haram’ gang in the Dan Village of Tzaneen Township, South Africa

Abstract

The Dan Village in Tzaneen, South African, just like other areas in South Africa is confronted with various heinous crimes, mostly perpetrated by the local gangs. Citizens are often robbed of their valuable belongings, terrorised and some killed in the process, this normally occurs in the early mornings and during the night when to-and-from work. Therefore, the objective of this study was to offer the nexus South African Police Service (SAPS) and Community Policing Forums (CPFs) in dismantling the ‘Boko Haram’ Gang in the identified study location. This qualitative study, was supported by exploratory research objective to purposively select Ten (10) participants and review suitable documentary studies on this subject. The key Informant Interviews (KIIs) were employed for data collections. The inductive Textual Content Analysis (TCA) was used to identify study themes and associated challenges during the data analysis process. This study established that the CPFs and SAPS members, including Dan Village native resident at large were concerned about ‘Boko Haram’ gang, this resulted in initiating crime-fighting patterns against this dangerous gang. The results further showed that since various crimes happened unexpectedly and affects them differently; the effective collaboration between the local SAPS and CPFs should be regarded as legitimate structures to play critical roles to dismantle the Boko Haram gang. This is expected to yield positive outcome for the control and prevention of criminal activities by the local gang.