The trafficking of children for purposes of sexual exploitation

3.2. The Gang
Some researchers believe that "there is no clear cut answer as to why certain people and not others
join gangs." 141 Pinnock 142 has argued that for adolescent boys on the Cape Flats "the gang generally
occupies a period in the boy's life between childhood - when he is incorporated in a family structure
- and - marriage - when he is re-incorporated into a family and into orderly relations of work. The
gang says Pinnock "is his pseudo-kin." This need for a substitute family "becomes especially
important at a time of cultural disorganisation."
Very little is known about the boys in the particular gang under study and we were unable to
interview them. Information that we do have was obtained from interviews with the SAPS, girl
children and their aunts. These aunts also related that three of their nephews and brothers had been
members of the gang. These three boys died within a period of 10 months and were aged 19, 14 and
15 respectively, at the time of their deaths. The gang leader and the boys allegedly murdered them.
From the testimonies it is conceivable that the two remaining brothers were involved in the murder
of the first brother and that the last brother to be murdered was involved in this murder as well as
that of the brother who was murdered before him.
The funeral programmes for these three funerals indicate that two of the boys' funeral services were
held at the house where they were reportedly murdered. The boys in the gang, the girls in the gang,
and the gang leader made up the majority of the pallbearers. The family number here was small. By
the second funeral the girls had lost their own surnames and had acquired the gang leader's
surname.
3.2.1. The structure of the gang
The gang appears to comprise three elements, the leader, the male members of the gang and the
girls.
3.2.1.1. The Leader of the Gang
Hy, jong, hy's lief om te sê: "Ek is, The Monster." En dan maak hy soe met sy hande. (brings the
tips of his fingers together and moves his hands from his chest to his mouth) 143
He likes to say: "I am The Monster"
"Hy't dik goue kettings, dik ringe, en dik ringe, en dik wallets wat die prostitute se geld is. Is nie sy
geld nie." 144
He has lots of gold jewellery, rings and chains and a thick wallets. It's not his money. It's the
prostitutes' money."
Zunaid tel baie, tel almal sy girls, en hy slaan sy girls oek, as jy nie meer vir hom wil werkkie, en
kry hy vir jou, maak die boys vir jou reg. Hy iet vir jou eerste en dan sy boys agterna" 145
Zunaid, likes to keep track of his girls. He beats them if they don't want to work for him. If they run
away and he finds them then the boys will sort them out. He rapes them and then the boys will rape
them."
141 N. Mbede: Street Gangs: A Contextual Study Exploring the Gang phenomenon in the African townships of the Cape
Peninsula and community attempts at curbing and re-directing gang activity B SOC SC (HONS) University of Cape
Town p.31
142 D. Pinnock: Brotherhoods: Street Gangs and State Control in Cape Town (David Philip, Cape Town, 1984) p
101
143 Interview with Belinda, trafficked child
144 Interview with Una adult independent street worker
145 Interview with Connie, adult independent street worker
48