Kristian Williams - Our Enemies in Blue - Police and Power in America

the elderly and unemployed.40 Meanwhile, the African National Congress (AN C)engaged in a canlpaign to, in the words of Nelson Mandela, "make governmentimpossible."41 This strategy had clear implications for crime control. The SouthAfrican police were famously indifferent to crime in the Black townships, andthe Black population was none too eager to cooperate with the COpS.42 This createda vacuum in the area of conflict resolution and public safety, and local communitiespainstakingly evolved institutions to fill it.In the 1970s, townships established community courts modeled on traditionalchieftain structures. These makgotla were patriarchal and conservative--dominatedby older men, upholding traditional hierarchies of gender and age, andparticipating in the local government. Slowly, over the course of two decades, themakgotla were replaced by "People's Courts"-and later, "Street Committees"­connected to the growing resistance movement. As these forms spread, youngerpeople gained a more prominent place, as did--eventually-women.'"These new committees were elected in public meetings and made responsiblefor preserving order and resolving disputes in their areas. 'i Though sometimesrelying on physical punishment, often at a brutal extreme," the StreetCommittees tended to emphasize restorative justice rather than retributive justice.Hence they focused less on punishment than on healing, on putting thingsright and preserving the community.4(,Under apartlleid, the police estimated there were 400 Street Committeesoperating throughout the country."7 In many places, the organizations have survivedinto the post-apartheid era. According to a 1998 survey of Guguletu, CapeTown, 95 percent of respondents reported that there was a Street Committee ontheir street, 58 percent said they attended the Street Committee's meetings, and69 percent thought that the committee did a good job. When asked, "Where doyou go for help if a young man in your family does not obey his parents?" 41percent said that thpy w0uld go to t. c Street C0illrriittcc. \-"l ieu i:tkeu wherethey would go if the neighbors played their music too loud, 69 percent said theywould take the complaint to the Street Committee. About two-thirds (66 percent)said they would go to the Street Committee "If a boy in the strpet stole a radiofrom your house ... . "48 In addition to minor criminal cases, neighborhood disputes, and family troubles, Street Committees also handle grievances againstemployers, merchants, and creditorsY Though violence is still sometimes used,most cases are settled peacefully. Many Street Committees no longer employcorporal punishment at all, relying instead on public shaming, financial restitution,community service, or, at the most severe, banishment from the area. 50The persistence of the Street Committees indicates something of the tensionsbetween the aims of the anti-apartheid movement and the means it employed.The ANC sought to avail itself of popular direct action and to establish a newstate. It achieved both, and is left trying to reconcile the two. Since 1994, the newgovernment has been willing to acknowledge the legitimacy of the StreetCommittees, but in exchange it has insisted that they cooperate with the police. ,1At the same time, the police often refuse to become involved with minor disputes,referring them instead to the Street Committees; cops have even beenknown to allow extra-legal violence to persist without interference. \2 Of course,the need for such violence is different in the new political context: in the post-230