Gangster school: The role of the school environment in gang recruitment strategies in Port Elizabeth, South Africa

Abstract

Gangs and gang violence continue to be serious challenges throughout South Africa, but especially in cities such as Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. In the northern areas of Port Elizabeth, hardly a day goes by without at least 1 report in the local news media about gang-related incidents. Most of the gangs in the northern areas have organised and relatively sophisticated recruitment strategies that they use to recruit new members. Various factors contribute to the gravitation of most youths to the gang lifestyle. With this article I seek to examine 1 of those factors, namely the school environment. I argue that various factors affecting the school environment make it possible for gangs to target school-going youths for recruitment. The article is based on both the literature and the use of primary data from my research into gangs in the northern areas of Port Elizabeth. The article concludes with some recommendations on how to combat gang recruitment in the school environment.