South African Crime Quarterly 66

This special edition focuses on the decolonisation of South Africa’s criminal justice system.

SACQ is published in partnership with the Centre for Criminology at the University of Cape Town. To access individual articles, refer to the table of contents below.

This special edition, guest edited by Nontsasa Nako from the University of Johannesburg addresses the issue of decolonising prisons by confronting both the day-to-day function of the prison and also wider impact of imprisonment on various communities in South Africa. The papers in this volume help in expanding our knowledge and might ultimately guide us towards the decolonisation of institutions such as prisons.

Thato Masiangoako examines the frames of rationalisation employed by migrants and student and community activists, who were victims of police violence, showing how enduring cultural, social and institutional histories shape popular perceptions.

Palesa Madi and Lubabalo Mabhenxa argue that the insistence on verification of address in bail hearings makes it difficult for the poor and marginalised to be released on bail in South Africa, where it is not uncommon for people to lack fixed homes.

Untalimile Crystal Mokoena and Emma Charlene Lubaale examine bail, or verification of address as a condition for granting bail, and show that remand conditions, as they stand, create unequal access to justice.

Anthony Kaziboni’s piece on the Lindela Reparation Centre uncovers the crude manipulation of social problems and abuses at the Centre. Drawing on Giorgio Agamben’s concept of ‘bare life’, Kaziboni follows media reports on Lindela over a period of 18 years to identify what he terms ‘xenophobic biopower’.

Judge Jody Kollapen suggests in ‘On the Record’, that decolonisation is a broad concept, and the high rate of crime places undue focus on crime and punishment rather than on the various factors that produce social malaise.