Introduction

For years, South African media reports on vigilantism have been full of images of criminals who have been necklaced, flogged or sjambokked; of angry mobs and kangaroo courts that have set thieves alight; and of supposed criminals who have been stabbed or stoned to death. The targets of attack have belonged to the generic category of ‘criminals’, predominantly young men who are caught and accused of or somehow linked to a ‘polyvalent category of crime’ (Buur 2003: 23–24) encompassing both criminal and civil transgressions (see also Buur & Jensen 2004, Buur 2005a).

Crime, it has been suggested, has in many ways become the new unifier of the South African nation, to the extent that it has become the main preoccupation of both the poor and the rich, and this long before the 2010 Football World Cup brought crime and preoccupations with crime to the attention of global audiences. Two researchers of elite perceptions of poverty have conveyed the panic surrounding crime in South Africa as follows: ‘Indeed, it is difficult to over-state the alarm on this issue, especially among white and Asian elites … crime has come close to replacing apartheid as the national problem. It is perceived as damaging the economy, by deterring tourism and discouraging investment, thus hindering growth’ (Kalati & Manor 2005: 163, emphasis in the original).