We Are Fighting the World n e w a f r i c a n h i s to r i e s s e r i e s Series editors: Jean Allman and Allen Isaacman David William Cohen and E. S. Atieno Odhiambo, The Risks of Knowledge: Investigations into the Death of the Hon. Minister John Robert Ouko in Kenya, 1990 Belinda Bozzoli, Theatres of Struggle and the End of Apartheid Gary Kynoch, We Are Fighting the World: A History of the Marashea Gangs in South Africa, 1947–1999 We Are Fighting the World A History of the Marashea Gangs in South Africa, 1947–1999 w Gary Kynoch ohio university press athens university of kwazulu-natal press pietermaritzburg, south africa Ohio University Press The Ridges, Building 19 Athens, Ohio 45701 www.ohio.edu/oupress University of KwaZulu-Natal Press Private Bag X01, Scottsville, 3209 South Africa Email: [email protected] www.ukznpress.co.za © 2005 by Ohio University Press Printed in the United States of America All rights reserved Ohio University Press books are printed on acid-free paper ƒ™ 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 5 4 3 2 1 Maps by Wendy Job Part of chapter 1 appeared as “From the Ninevites to the Hard Livings Gang: Town- ship Gangsters and Urban Violence in Twentieth-Century South Africa” in African Studies58, no. 1 (1999): 55–85 and is reprinted by permission. Part of chapter 3 appeared in “A Man among Men: Gender, Identity, and Power in South Africa’s Marashea Gangs” in Gender and History13, no. 2 (2001): 249–72 and is reprinted by permission. Part of chapter 4 appeared in “Politics and Violence in the Russian Zone: Con- flict in Newclare South, 1950–1957” in Journal of African History41, no. 2 (2000): 267–90 and is reprinted by permission. Part of chapter 5 appeared in “Marashea on the Mines: Economic, Social and Criminal Networks on the South African Gold Fields, 1947-1999” in Journal of Southern African Studies26, no. 1 (2000): 79–103 and is reprinted by permission. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kynoch, Gary. We are fighting the world : a history of the Marashea gangs in South Africa, 1947–1999 / Gary Kynoch. p.cm.—(New African histories series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8214-1615-4 (cloth : alk. paper)—ISBN 0-8214-1616-2 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Gangs—South Africa—History. I. Title. II. Series. HV6439.S6K96 2005 364.1'06'60973—dc22 2004021754 University of KwaZulu-Natal Press ISBN 1-86914-072-9 Contents Preface vii Acknowledgments xiii Abbreviations xv Chapter 1 Urban Violence in South Africa 1 Chapter 2 The Anatomy of the Marashea 12 Chapter 3 Making a Living: Survival in South Africa 56 Chapter 4 Urban Battlegrounds 91 Chapter 5 Marashea on the Mines: The Expansion Era 115 Chapter 6 Vigilantism, “Political” Violence, and the End of Apartheid 136 Epilogue The Future of the Marashea 153 Appendix Marashea Interview List 157 Notes 163 Glossary 185 Bibliography 187 Index 197 v Witwatersrand townships, present day Preface This book is the first attempt to write a comprehensive history of an African criminal society known as the Marashea, or “Russians,” from its incep- tion in the 1940s to the present.1It covers the formation of the association in the townships and mining compounds of the Witwatersrand, the massive street battles of the 1950s, and the government’s forced removal schemes that dispersed the Russians from some of their urban strongholds during this same period.2These original groups of Marashea drew their strength from Basotho migrants who worked and lived on the Johannesburg area mines, as well as those who resided in the townships and were employed in the city.3The gold- mining industry’s expansion into the far West Rand and Free State during the 1950s and 1960s, coupled with the Aliens Control Act of 1963 (which made it illegal for the vast majority of Basotho migrants to work in South Africa out- side the agricultural and mining sectors), resulted in a Marashea migration that shifted Russian power from the Rand to the townships and informal set- tlements surrounding the emerging gold mines. The Marashea remains a powerful force in many of South Africa’s gold mining areas. Newspapers and archival documents proved to be valuable source materi- als but are limited in the range of issues they address. Police, mining, and township officials tended to focus on the disruption to order that Russian ac- tivities caused, and the Marashea came to public notice almost exclusively as a result of their involvement in violence. Newspapers intended for white read- ership rarely mentioned Marashea because, except for the most spectacular instances of violence, their activities did not impinge on the white world. African newspapers reported on collective violence, robberies, and court ap- pearances and typically condemned the gangs as primitive tribal thugs. This was the public face of the Marashea. Archival sources were useful in providing government and mining offi- cials’ views of the Marashea, as well as supplying dates, casualty figures, and arrest records for specific events. In the archival records, the Marashea appear vii as a nuisance in the townships and mines—because of their involvement in street battles, faction fights, murders, and robberies—but not as a political threat to the state. Instead, they are depicted as tribal Africans untainted by communist or other revolutionary ideology, with no grievances against whites and no political agenda. Mining officials expressed occasional concern over Russian violence that threatened to disrupt mining operations, but the gangs did not challenge white authority on the mines. White commentators some- times characterized the Marashea as murderous thugs but not as political sub- versives. These sources of evidence provide little information on the inner workings of the Marashea but are particularly valuable in situating the Rus- sian gangs in a political context. Documentary evidence clearly indicates that the apartheid regime not only discounted the Marashea as a threat to white rule but that the police made common cause with gangster and vigilante groups as early as the 1950s in their campaigns to undermine the ANC and its affiliates. In this way the state was directly responsible for sponsoring episodes of conflict in the townships long before the politicized violence of the 1980s and 1990s. Gathering oral testimony from current and former Marashea was the only way to probe into issues of culture and gender relations, to better understand how the gangs fit into their environment and how they perceived of and rep- resented themselves. The major limitation to this approach is that one does not get an outsider’s view of the society. I interviewed a handful of minework- ers, police, and mining officials, but, for the most part, outsiders’ perceptions are examined only through the claims of Marashea themselves. Between April 1998 and June 1999, seventy-nine Marashea (sixty-three men, sixteen women) were interviewed in Lesotho, in the townships and in- formal settlements of Gauteng province, and in Marashea settlements sur- rounding the mining towns of Klerksdorp, Virginia, Carletonville, and Welkom.4 These seventy-nine individuals span six decades of experience as Marashea. Some respondents spent the majority of their adult lives as Marashea while others were members for only a year or two. The ages of those informants who knew their birth dates ranged from twenty-eight to eighty- four. With the exception of two respondents who spoke very good English, all interviews were conducted in Sesotho. The foremost difficulties involved gaining access to active members and women. Meetings with current Marashea visiting Lesotho led to trips to Rus- sian settlements in South Africa, where additional interviews were con- ducted, including one with BM, the leader of the Matsieng faction in the Free State. In the end my research assistants and I spent time in four different Marashea settlements, and a total of nine active Marashea participated in in- viii w Preface terviews. Moreover, informal conversations yielded information about pro- tection arrangements, rental agreements with white farmers, the demograph- ics of the camps, business ventures, living conditions, social practices, and relations with mineworkers. BM refused our request to interview women, saying that women did not know history and would say silly things. The same experience was repeated in the other Marashea settlements. As a result, only one active woman, a relation of an intermediary, was interviewed. Marashea women in general were diffi- cult to identify, especially in Lesotho. Former Marashea women who have re- turned to Lesotho tend not to advertise their status and, despite exhaustive efforts, female informants made up just under 20 percent of the total inter- view pool. Interviewing people who had experience with Marashea was often prob- lematic. It would have been valuable to consult with more police officers, but I decided against this because of the extensive connections Marashea groups have with police. If it was discovered that I was asking the police about the Marashea it is possible that avenues would have been closed off. Conse- quently, I did not pursue any police contacts in South Africa until near the end of my fieldwork, although I discussed the Marashea with a few police of- ficers in Lesotho. Several mineworkers were also interviewed during the ini- tial stages of fieldwork in Lesotho. Although a number of South African mining officials refused to discuss the Marashea, staff at Harmony Mine in the Free State were very helpful. An NUM representative enthusiastically participated in an interview, as did a former liaison division employee of the Employment Bureau of Africa. In the 1950s Johannesburg gangs attracted a great deal of public attention, primarily because of the massive street battles in which they engaged. Unfortunately, many of the lawyers and township of- ficials who came into contact with the Johannesburg Russians are deceased. With the exception of one advocate who represented Russians in the 1960s and 1970s, I was unable to track down any members of the legal profession or government service who had done business with the Marashea. Not surprisingly, some Marashea informants were evasive or refused to dis- cuss certain topics. Questions concerning relationships with the police, crimi- nal activities, conflicts with ANC supporters, and links with political parties in Lesotho were the most likely to elicit such responses. The political turmoil stemming from the May 1998 national elections in Lesotho, which eventually led to military intervention and occupation by a South African–led force in September 1998, made discussions of political affairs extremely sensitive. Problems of accuracy and reliability are two central issues that oral histori- ans continually confront. This study was no different and gathering testimony Preface w ix