Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T15:48:39.328Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Creating People's Justice: Street Committees And People's Courts in a South African City

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2024

Sandra Burman  and
Wilfried Schärf
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Ever since coming under colonial rule, Africans in South Africa have operated informal courts which the state courts have not recognized. Using fieldwork data, we contrast two such nonstate judicial structures in Cape Town. We describe the street committees, constituted by the older generation as a subsidiary form of local government coexisting uncomfortably alongside formal apartheid authorities. We then show the explosive consequences of the development from 1985 of youth-run people's courts, which attempted to redefine community values. We conclude with a discussion of our findings in the context of existing theoretical work on informal justice and draw some tentative conclusions on possible developments in a post-apartheid era.

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 24 , Issue 3 , 1990 , pp. 693 - 744
Copyright
Copyright © 1990 The Law and Society Association.

Footnotes

We would like to thank the following funders for making the research possible, some as part of a larger project on family breakup: the International Federation of University Women; the British Academy; Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford; the Nuffield Foundation; the Economic and Social Research Council; the Human Sciences Research Council; the Anglo-American and De Beer's Chairman's Fund; the Ford Foundation Student Trainee Scheme; and the Institute of Criminology, University of Cape Town. Our thanks, too, for their invaluable work, including translations, to our research assistants on this project: Lindiwe Kota, Eunice Mabuya, Malusi Makalima, Nompumelelo Mbebe, the late Ebenezer Nkosi Mehlamakulu, Florence Mphahlele, Chris Ngcokoto, Nini Sipuye, and particularly Debbie Hene and Baba Ngcokoto, who undertook the bulk of the highly sensitive interviews. We are also indebted to Professors R. Abel, H. Corder, C. Saunders, and Dr. K. Hughes for comments on earlier drafts of this article.

References

References

ABEL, Richard L. (1982) “Introduction,” in The Politics of Informal Justice, Vol. 1. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
ABEL, Richard L. (1981) “Conservative Conflict and the Reproduction of Capitalism: The Role of Informal Justice,” 9 International Journal of the Sociology of Law 245.Google Scholar
ABEL, Richard L. (1979) “Theories of Litigation in Society,” in Blankenburg, E., Klausa, E., and Rottleuthner, H. (eds.), Alternative Rechtsformen und Alternativen zum Recht (Jahrbuch für Rechtssoziologie und Rechtstheorie, Vol. 6). Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag.Google Scholar
ABEL, Richard L. (1973) “A Comparative Theory of Dispute Institutions in Society,” 8 Law & Society Review 217.Google Scholar
ALLISON, John (1987) “Concepts of Popular and Revolutionary Justice.” M. Phil. thesis, University of Cambridge.Google Scholar
ARGUS: evening daily newspaper, Cape Town.Google Scholar
BAPELA, M. S. W. (1987) “The People's Courts in a Customary Law Perspective.” Presented at Workshop 2 on “New Approaches in Respect of the Administration of Justice,” Institute of Foreign and Comparative Law, UNISA.Google Scholar
BURMAN, Sandra B. (1989) “The Role of Street Committees: Continuing South Africa's Practice of Alternative Justice,” in Corder, H. (ed.), Democracy and the Judiciary. Cape Town: IDASA.Google Scholar
BURMAN, Sandra B. (1983a) “Roman-Dutch Family Law for Africans: The Black Divorce Court in Action,” 1983 Acta Juridica 171.Google Scholar
BURMAN, Sandra B. (1983b) “Beyond Apartheid's Courts: Reaping the Whirlwind.” Presented at the Conference of the Research Committee on the Sociology of Law, International Sociological Association, Antwerp, Belgium.Google Scholar
BURMAN, Sandra B. (1981) Chiefdom Politics and Alien Law. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
BURMAN, Sandra B. (1976) “Symbolic Dimensions of the Enforcement of Law,” 3(2) British Journal of Law and Society 204.Google Scholar
BURMAN, Sandra B. (1973) “Cape Policies Towards African Law in Cape Tribal Territories, 1872–1883.” D.Phil. thesis, University of Oxford.Google Scholar
CAIN, Maureen (1988) “Beyond Informal Justice,” in Matthews, R. (ed.), Informal Justice. London: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
CAPE TIMES: morning daily newspaper, Cape Town.Google Scholar
CATHOLIC INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS (CIIR) (1988) Now Everyone Is Afraid. London: CIIR.Google Scholar
CHANNOCK, Martin (1982) “Making Customary Law: Men, Women, and Courts in Colonial Northern Rhodesia,” in Hay, M. J. and Wright, M. (eds.), African Women and the Law: Historical Perspectives. Boston University Papers on Africa, VII. Boston: Boston University.Google Scholar
CRISIS NEWS: (1988) Monthly publication of the Western Province Council of Churches, Cape Town.Google Scholar
COLE, Josette (1987) Crossroads: The Politics of Reform and Repression 1976–1986. Johannesburg: Ravan Press.Google Scholar
ELIAS, Christine M. (1983) An Historical Review of the Supply of Housing for Urban Africans in the Cape Peninsula, 1900–1982. Department of Sociology Occasional Paper, No. 7, Stellenbosch: University of Stellenbosch.Google Scholar
FISHER & LOGAN (1987) “Submission About the Withdrawal of Charge,” unpublished letter written by Attorney K. Pienaar of the firm of Fisher & Logan in Knysna to the Attorney-General in Cape Town, with attached anthropological reports.Google Scholar
FITZPATRICK, Peter (1983) “Law, Plurality and Underdevelopment,” in Sugarman, D. (ed.), Legality, Ideology and the State. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
FRONTLINE (1986) “The Strange, Strange Feeling of Taking Control,” and “The Rocky Rise of People's Power,” 6(7) Frontline 11.Google Scholar
GALANTER, Marc (1981) “Justice in Many Rooms: Courts, Private Ordering, and Indigenous Law,” 19 Journal of Legal Pluralism 1.Google Scholar
GALANTER, Marc (1979) “Legality and Its Discontents: Some Preliminary Notes on Current Theories of Legalization and Delegalization,” in Blankenburg, E., Klausa, E., and Rottleuthner, H. (eds.), Alternative Rechtsformen und Alternativen zum Recht (Jahrbuch für Rechtssoziologie und Rechtstheorie, Vol. 6). Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag.Google Scholar
HALL, Martin (1986) “Resistance and Revolt in Greater Cape Town.” Presented at Conference on “Western Cape: Roots and Realities,” Centre for African Studies, University of Cape Town.Google Scholar
HAYSOM, Nicholas C. (1986) Mabangalala—The Rise of Right-Wing Vigilantes in South Africa. Centre for Applied Legal Studies, Occasional Paper No. 10. Johannesburg: University of the Witwatersrand.Google Scholar
HORRELL, Muriel (1982) Race Relations as Regulated by Law in South Africa 1948–1979. Johannesburg: South African Institute of Race Relations.Google Scholar
HUND, John (1988) “Formal Justice and Township Justice,” in Hund, J. (ed.), Law and Justice in South Africa. Johannesburg: Institute for Public Interest Law and Research.Google Scholar
HUND, John, KOTU-RAMMOPO, AND Malebo (1983) “Justice in a South African Township: The Sociology of Makgotla,” 16 Comparative and International Law Journal in Southern Africa 179.Google Scholar
ISAACMAN, Barbara and Allen, (1982) “A Socialist Legal System in the Making: Mozambique Before and After Independence,” in Abel, R. L. (ed.), The Politics of Informal Justice, Vol. 2. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
JORDI, Richard (1987) “Towards People's Education: The Boycott Experience in Cape Town's Department of Education and Culture High Schools from July 1985 to February 1986.” B.A. (Hons.) diss., University of Cape Town.Google Scholar
KANE-BERMAN, John (1978) Soweto—Black Revolt, White Reaction. Johannesburg: Ravan Press.Google Scholar
KANNEMEYER COMMISSION (1985) Report of the Commission Appointed to Inquire into the Incident Which Occurred on 21st March 1985 at Uitenhage, RP74–1985.Google Scholar
KIDDER, Robert L. (1979) “Towards an Integrated Theory of Imposed Law,” in Burman, S. and Harrell-Bond, B. E. (eds.), The Imposition of Law. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
LADLEY, Andrew (1982) “Changing the Courts in Zimbabwe: The Customary Law and Primary Courts Act,” 26 Journal of African Law 95.Google Scholar
LODGE, Tom (1989) “The United Democratic Front: Leadership and Ideology,” in Brewer, J. D. (ed.), Can South Africa Survive? Five Minutes to Midnight. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
MANN, Kristin (1982) “Women's Rights in Law and Practice: Marriage and Dispute Settlement in Colonial Lagos,” in Hay, M. J. and Wright, M. (eds.), African Women and the Law: Historical Perspectives. Boston University Papers on Africa, VII. Boston: Boston University.Google Scholar
MOTSHEKGA, Mathole S. (1987) “Alternative Legal Institutions in Southern Africa.” Presented at Workshop 2 on “New Approaches in Respect of the Administration of Justice,” Institute of Foreign and Comparative Law, UNISA.Google Scholar
PHILCOX, Susan (1988) “The African Schooling Crisis in Cape Town.” Presented at the NICRO Seminar on Crime-Awareness, 11 October 1988.Google Scholar
SACHS, Albie (1985) “The Two Dimensions of Socialist Legality: Recent Experience in Mozambique,” 13 (2) International Journal of the Sociology of Law 133.Google Scholar
SACHS, Albie (1984) “Changing the Terms of the Debate: A Visit to a Popular Tribunal in Mozambique,” 28 (1&2) Journal of African Law 99.Google Scholar
SANTOS, SANTOS Boaventura de (1984) “From Customary Law to Popular Justice,” 28 (1&2) Journal of African Law 90.Google Scholar
SANTOS, SANTOS Boaventura de (1982) “Law and Revolution in Portugal: The Experiences of Popular Justice After the 25th of April 1974,” in Abel, R. L. (ed.), The Politics of Informal Justice, Vol. 2. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
SANTOS, SANTOS Boaventura de (1979) “Popular Justice, Dual Power and Socialist Strategy,” in B. Fine et al., Capitalism and the Rule of Law—From Deviancy Theory to Marxism. London: Hutchinson.Google Scholar
SANTOS, SANTOS Boaventura de (1977) “The Law of the Oppressed: The Construction and Reproduction of Legality in Pasargada,” 12 Law & Society Review 5.Google Scholar
SAUNDERS, Christopher C. (1979a) “The Creations of Ndabeni: Urban Segregation and African Resistance in Cape Town,” in Saunders, C. (ed.), Studies in the History of Cape Town, Vol. 1. Cape Town [Rondebosch]: History Department, University of Cape Town.Google Scholar
SAUNDERS, Christopher C. (1979b) “From Ndabeni to Langa,” in Saunders, C. (ed.), Studies in the History of Cape Town, Vol. 1. Rondebosch: History Department, University of Cape Town.Google Scholar
SCHÄRF, Wilfried (1989) “The Role of People's Courts in Transitions,” in Corder, H. (ed.), Democracy and the Judiciary. Cape Town: IDASA.Google Scholar
SCHÄRF, Wilfried (1988) “People's Justice,” Sash, March, p. 19.Google Scholar
SCHÄRF, Wilfried, Ngcokoto, AND Baba (in press) “Images of Punishment in the People's Courts of Cape Town 1985–7: From Prefigurative Justice to Populist Violence,” in Manganyi, C. and Toit, A. du (eds.), Political Violence and the Struggle in South Africa. London: Macmillan; New York: St. Martin's Press.Google Scholar
SEEKINGS, Jeremy (1989) “People's Courts and Popular Politics,” in South African Review 5. Johannesburg: Ravan Press.Google Scholar
SHEARING, Clifford D., and Philip C., STENNING (1987) Private Policing. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
SISULU, Zwelakhe (1986) “Forward to People's Power,” Die Suid-Afrikaan Herfs, p. 19.Google Scholar
SOUTH AFRICAN INSTITUTE OF RACE RELATIONS (SAIRR) (1983, 1985) Survey. Johannesburg: SAIRR.Google Scholar
SPENCE, Jack (1982) “Institutionalising Neighbourhood Courts: Two Chilean Experiences,” in Abel, R. L. (ed.), The Politics of Informal Justice, Vol. 2. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
SUTTNER, Raymond (1986) “Popular Justice in South Africa Today.” Presented at conference on “Law in a State of Emergency,” University of Cape Town.Google Scholar
VAN NIEKERK, G. J. (1988) “People's Courts and People's Justice in South Africa,” 21(2) De Jure 292.Google Scholar
WEEKLY MAIL: National weekly, Johannesburg.Google Scholar
WILSON, Monica, and Archie, MAFEJE (1963) Langa: A Study of Social Groups in an African Township. Cape Town: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

Statutes and Regulations

Bantu Affairs Administration Act, No. 45 of 1971.Google Scholar
Black Local Authorities Act, No. 102 of 1982.Google Scholar
Community Councils Act, No. 125 of 1977.Google Scholar
Government Notice 334, Government Gazette 11157, 24 February 1988.Google Scholar
Police Act, No. 7 of 1958.Google Scholar
Population Registration Act, No. 30 of 1950.Google Scholar
Proc. R224, Government Gazette 10542, 11 December 1986.Google Scholar
Proc. R96, Government Gazette 10771, 11 June 1987.Google Scholar
Proc. R121, Government Gazette 9877, 21 July 1985.Google Scholar
Urban Bantu Councils Act, No. 79 of 1961.Google Scholar

Cases Cited

Bhongolethu Civic Association and Six Others v. Minister of Law and Order and Seventeen Others, Case No. 8390/87, Supreme Court of South Africa, CPD: 198–213.Google Scholar
Methodist Church in Africa and Twenty-one Others v. Ministers of Law and Order and Others, Case Nos. 13082/86 and 13083/86, Supreme Court of South Africa, CPD (unreported).Google Scholar
Mbithi Fuba and Eight Others v. Minister of Law and Order and Seventeen Others, Case No. 1777/87, Supreme Court of South Africa, ECD: 260.Google Scholar
State v. Mayekiso and Four Others, Case No. 115/87, Supreme Court of South Africa, WLD.Google Scholar