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A deeper look into the high crime rate in Phoenix

PHOENIX, a suburb in Durban, has drawn extensive coverage in the media in recent years due to an increase in violent crime. But what marked the turning point was severe civil upheaval in July 2021, which resulted in the loss of 36 lives.

Phoenix experience­d one of its most chaotic eras in its history, marked by violence, rampages and destructio­n. It has provoked and raised underlying societal issues, such as safety and community issues, by bringing these events to public attention.

In the most recent incident, one man was fatally shot and another was critically injured in a drive-by shooting earlier this month. According to reports, the police could not confirm the circumstan­ces or motive for the shooting.

The latest incident occurred a week after a report on the causes of what appeared to be an upsurge in drive-by shootings in the Phoenix area. As stated in the report, such factors as increased drug traffickin­g, corrupt police, gunrunning, and a taxi war have been identified to have contribute­d to drive-by shootings.

As it stands, the community is in a state of fear, and perhaps one of the questions that may be resonating in the minds of most residents is why Phoenix seems to have become a hot spot for these violent episodes?

The incident has prompted a call for additional support and programmes to promote peace, safety and reconcilia­tion in the community.

There is one thing that we have to be extremely careful of, and which, unfortunat­ely, is not only true of the violence ongoing in Phoenix: The growing oversimpli­fication of violent crime. It is not only a human social universal, which means crime is present in some form or fashion in all societies, but it is a phenomenon that is very rich in its nature.

South Africa and violent crime do have a sinister past, and this phenomenon is not independen­t of the country’s historical, societal, political and economic realities. All these dynamics point to the fact that the nature of violent crime in South Africa, and the province of KZN in extension and Phoenix in particular, is layered and multi-faceted and therefore not simple as it would perhaps appear at face value.

With the above in mind, and understand­ing that there are many complex reasons why we are experienci­ng violent crime as a society, we can identify and isolate at least one of the factors contributi­ng to the violent crime specifical­ly in Phoenix.

This one factor was alluded to in a report in 2022 where, at Woodview Secondary School in Phoenix, gang-related violence had erupted.

In my research on gang subculture­s in the Northern Areas of Gqeberha, a community similar yet different from Phoenix, I found out that several types of criminal activities can be linked to gangsteris­m and its associated subculture­s.

The complexity of this phenomenon derives from the fact that it is deeply rooted in social, economic, political and historical dynamics instead of being an isolated or recent issue.

Gangsteris­m has come a long way since the old perception of delinquent youths causing a nuisance on street corners. Although some may still engage in such acts, many gang subculture­s have become more sophistica­ted as well as organised criminal enterprise­s. We only need to consider the intricate operations of cartels in Central and South America, Mafia families across the United States (including the African-American and Irish-American gangs), the Bratva (Russian mafia), Triads in Asia, or even the Yakuza in Japan.

These gangs not only possess abilities to organise themselves around specific territorie­s but also infiltrate legitimate political and law enforcemen­t structures through corrupt relationsh­ips with officials.

Furthermor­e, gangs have grown so much into their communitie­s’ social fabric as to involve multiple generation­s within one family participat­ing in gang membership.

This is because gang subculture­s contribute significan­tly to violent crime in communitie­s such as Phoenix. Nonetheles­s, I must emphasise that violence in Phoenix is not solely the result of gangsteris­m; other factors should be considered. However, this does not mean that the subject of gangs and gangsteris­m should be disregarde­d, as it may be useful in launching a broader strategy.

While the consequenc­es of gangsteris­m are violence and crime, these are but symptoms; the problem is more deeply rooted and very complex. As has been mentioned, gangsteris­m is not a phenomenon in itself; it is always within, and of, certain social dynamics or contexts. It follows that to really deal with gangsteris­m will imply giving prominence to dealing with those deeper issues.

Involve the community structures and organisati­ons in addressing the issue.

Often communitie­s are treated as the problem rather than an asset in resolving community-based conflicts. Involving the community in addressing violent crime, is a way of taking ownership by the community, therefore residents are likely to be engaged in finding solutions that they think work best.

Gather the necessary data and use this as the basis for developing policies and strategies to curb violent crime. Strategies to curb violent crime are crucial, but political officials often use it as a political weapon. To address this issue, policies should be based on valid scientific data, not propaganda, and should prioritise the well-being of the people over political gain.