Cars, compounds and containers: Judicial and extrajudicial infrastructures of punishment in the ‘old’ and ‘new’ South Africa
| Author | Gail Super |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/14624745221079456 |
| Published date | 01 December 2022 |
| Date | 01 December 2022 |
Cars,compoundsand
containers:Judicialand
extrajudicialinfrastructures
ofpunishmentinthe‘old’
and‘new’SouthAfrica
GailSuper
DepartmentofSociology,UniversityofToronto–Mississauga,
Mississauga,Ontario,Canada
Abstract
Thispaperexaminesnon-stateinfrastructuresofvigilanteviolenceinmarginalized
spacesinSouthAfrica.Iarguethatcartrunks,shacks,containers,andothereveryday
receptaclesfunctionastheundersideofofficialinstitutions,suchasprisonsandpolice
lock-ups,andbearhistoricalimprintsoftheextrajudicialpunishmentsinflictedon
blackbodiesduringcolonialismandapartheid.Ifocusontwotechniques:forcingsome-
oneintothetrunkofavehicleanddrivingthemaroundtolocatestolenproperty,and
confinementingarages,shacks,containers,orlocalpublicspaces.Whereasinformerly
‘whitesonly’areas,residentshaveaccesstoinsurance,guards,gatedcommunities,for-
tifiedfences,andwell-resourcedneighbourhoodwatches,informerblacktownshipsand
informalsettlements,thisisnotthecase.Here,theboot,theshack,theshed,thecar,
andtheminibustaxiplaymultipleroles,includingasvectorsandspacesofconfinement,
torture,andexecution.Thus,spatiotemporalityaffectsbothhowpenalformspermeate
spaceandtime,andhowspaceandtimeconstitutepenalforms.Thesevigilantekidnap-
pingsandforcibleconfinementsarenotmereinstancesofgratuitousviolence.Instead,
theymimic,distort,andamplifytheviolencethatunderpinsthestate’sunrealizedmon-
opolyovertheviolenceinherentinitsclaimstopoliceandpunish.
Keywords
Vigilanteviolence,extrajudicialpunishment,forcibleconfinement,kidnapping,South
Africa,colonialism,penalhistory,carceralgeography,penalinfrastructures,inequality,
legalpluralism
Correspondingauthor:
GailSuper,DepartmentofSociology,UniversityofToronto–Mississauga,Mississauga,Ontario,Canada.
Email:gail.super@utoronto.ca
SpecialIssue:AfricanPenalHistoriesinGlobalPerspective
Punishment&Society
2022,Vol.24(5)824–842
©TheAuthor(s)2022
Articlereuseguidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI:10.1177/14624745221079456
journals.sagepub.com/home/pun
Introduction
Thispaperexaminestheroleofeverydayinfrastructuresofvigilanteviolenceinformer
blacktownshipsandinformalsettlementsinSouthAfrica.Iarguethatcartrunks,shacks,
containers,andothercommonplacereceptaclesfunctionastheundersideofofficialinsti-
tutions,suchasprisonsandpolicelock-ups,andthattheybeardeephistoricalimprints
andinstitutionallegaciesoftheextrajudicialpunishmentsthatwereinflictedonblack
bodiesduringcolonialismandapartheid.Theyalsoserveasimportantremindersof
theuneasyrelationshipbetweenlocalmeanings(andmanifestations)of‘justice’and
liberallegality.
Drawingonsecondaryhistoricalliterature,policerecordsfromtwopolicingclustersin
theWesternCapefortheperiod2000–2016,andselectedcourtcasetranscripts,Isituate
mycasestudywithinthecontextofthepenalviolenceexercisedagainstracializedsub-
jectsduringcolonialandapartheidrule.Ifocusontwospecifictechniques:firstly,when
someoneisforcedintothetrunkofavehicleanddrivenaroundinordertolocatestolen
property,andsecondly,whenapersonistemporarilydetained,assaultedand/ortortured
inagarage,shack,container,orlocalpublicspace.Sincethereisnostatutoryoffenceof
vigilantisminSouthAfricanlaw,thisformof‘self-help’isframedinthepolicedatabase
asthecommonlawoffenceofkidnapping(colloquiallyreferredtoas‘manstealing’),and
isusuallycombinedwithalternativechargesofmurder,attemptedmurder,and/orassault
withintentiontocausegrievousbodilyharm(GBH).Likepolicetorture,itismoreofa
furtiveandprivateritualthanapublicact.Assuchitdiffersfromspectacularincidentsof
collectiveviolence,whereasuspectedoffenderispubliclyburnt,stoned,orbeatento
deathbyacrowd.Whilekidnappingasatechnologyoforganizedorpoliticallymotivated
crimeisamuchstudiedphenomenon,ithasbeenrelativelyneglectedandundertheorized
asaformofvigilantism,bothinSouthAfricaandbeyond.Itraisesimportantquestions
abouttheoverlapsbetweenorganizedcrimeandcrimeasa‘moralistic’formof‘social
control’(Black,1983:34).
Analyticalframeworkandmethod
WhilePunishmentandSocietyscholarstendtostudyparticularinstitutionsandspaces
wherepunishmentisimposedbythestate,usuallyafteraconvictioninacriminal
court,thispaperquestionstheboundariesofthefield.Iusethetermextrajudicialto
refertopenalviolencethatisinflictedbeyondthecourts.Fromastrictlylegalisticper-
spectivethisisnotpunishment(Zedner,2016).However,inpracticeitisverymuch
likepunishment(BeckettandHerbert,2010;Super,2020).Certainly,thoseonthereceiv-
ingend,andsometimestheinstigatorsthemselves,regarditaspunishment.Likelaw,
extrajudicialpunishmentassumesdistinctformsandplaysoutdifferently,depending
onwhereinspaceandtimeitisinflicted(Merry,2004;Valverde,2008).Assuch,itis
multiscalarandspatiotemporallyplural.Thismultiscalarityishighlyvisibleinhistoric-
allymarginalizedspacesandincontextsofinequality,SouthAfricabeingacasein
point.InSouthAfricathelawitselfcreatedspatialexclusionsandspacesofmarginality
Super825
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