Full text of DOI:10.1017/S002185379900763X

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
Journal of African History,  (), pp. –. Printed in the United Kingdom
#  Cambridge University Press
POLITICS AND VIOLENCE IN THE ‘RUSSIAN ZONE’:
CONFLICT IN NEWCLARE SOUTH, 1950–7*
  
Dalhousie University
T urban townships of South Africa have been contested terrain since their
inception. Different groups have struggled to control territory, various
resources and political activities within the confines of the locations and, all
too frequently, violence has been an integral part of these struggles. Groups
as varied in composition and ideology as squatter movements, well-organized
criminal outfits, student groups, vigilantes, traditional courts (makgotlas),
migrant gangs, youth gangs, municipal political groups and national political
movements – with much overlapping between these categories – have all at
one time or another sought to impose their will on township residents and
have regarded violence as an essential element in their campaigns.
While much attention has been deservedly devoted to the violence
employed by the state as a means of subjugating, dividing and controlling
township residents, the different ways in which black urban groups struggled
to assert control over their environments have received relatively little
scrutiny. These processes cannot be regarded in isolation from the state’s
quest for control, but neither should they be subsumed by the larger focus
on a revolutionary struggle. Rather, I would argue that a more informed
understanding of the conditions and challenges faced by black urbanites
requires study of the nature of localized power and violence within the
townships. African groups pursued agendas which served their own interests
and had a considerable impact on social relations and perceptions of power
and authority, both within the locations and in the broader context of
national\racial politics.
This article concentrates on the migrant Basotho gangs known as Marashea
or Russians, in particular the eight-year period in the s when they were
the single most dominant force in the freehold area of Newclare (known by
Basotho as Siteketekeng), a township on the western fringes of Johannesburg.
With the collusion – and sometimes active assistance – of the South African
police (SAP), the Russian gangs emerged victorious from a series of battles
with various opponents and effectively annexed the southern portion of
Newclare. They maintained their dominance and functioned as an alternative
form of government until Africans were expelled from the township as part
of the Western Areas Removal Scheme at the end of the decade.
Russian gangs of the s have been the focus of two scholarly articles,
the first, by Guy and Thabane, following the life of Rantoa, a member of the
Matsieng faction based in s Newclare. Rantoa’s recollections provide a
window into Russian life, revealing how Russianism was deeply embedded
in a collective Basotho identity, the factional battles that defined the different
gangs, the Russians’ complex and contradictory relations with the police and
* The author gratefully acknowledges the support of the Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Killam Memorial Scholarship Fund.

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the importance of lawyers to the gangs’ survival. This is a fascinating
account, but it is concerned with the life experiences of one man and does not
attempt to explain the Russians’ rise to power nor assess the impact of their
activities on the larger population. Secondly, Bonner explores the Russian
phenomenon from its beginnings on the Reef in the late s to the close of
the s. This work provides a basis for further studies of the Russian
gangs, examining as it does the formation of the Russians and their
contribution to ethnic chauvinism in the townships and squatter camps on
the Rand. Bonner touches on the conflicts in Newclare and highlights the
Russians’ relationship with the police, but his focus is much broader and
"
details are limited.
The purpose of this article is twofold: it explores the manner in which the
Russians established and maintained supremacy over Newclare South in the
s (paying particular attention to their relationship with the SAP) and
then assesses the legacy of their reign over the area that came to be known
as the ‘Russian Zone’.
 
The Russians had their genesis in the migrant Basotho gangs established in
the mining compounds and locations on the Rand since the early years of the
century. Faction fights on the mines often assumed ethnic dimensions and
Basotho (like other groups) tended to band together for collective security.
Much the same process occurred in the townships (town and compound life
were intricately connected) where migrants were often targeted by more
urbanized criminals. Although they most likely began as defensive
associations, as migrant gangs consolidated their power their efforts in-
variably extended to attempts to control urban resources – territory, women
and revenue-raising schemes – which led to more aggressive, predatory
behaviour.
The Russians proper seem to have been born in the late s and to have
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taken their name from the recent victors of the Second World War. Regional
animosities rooted in Lesotho’s history of succession disputes and royal
infighting were reflected in the internecine rivalries which distinguished the
different Russian groups:
The factions of Matsieng and Ha-Molapo\Masupha reproduced and reignited the
historical antagonism between the royalists of south Lesotho, followers of
Moshoeshoe’s [the founding King of Lesotho] heir, Letsie I, with his capital at
Matsieng, and the restive collateral nobility of north Lesotho led by Moshoeshoe’s
second and third sons, Molapo and Masupha, whom he installed at Peka and
$
J. Guy and M. Thabane, ‘The Ma-Rashea, a participant’s perspective’, in B. Bozzoli
(ed.), Class, Community and Conflict (Johannesburg, ), –; P. Bonner, ‘The
Russians on the reef, –: urbanisation, gang warfare and ethnic mobilisation’, in
Bonner, P. Delius and D. Posel (eds.), Apartheid’s Genesis, ‰ƒꢀ–‰†‚ (Johannesburg,
), –. Others have made passing mention of the Russians, but these remain the
only two published works that have the Russians as their primary topic.
Thaba Bosiu, and who consistently defied or rebelled against the paramountcy.
"
#
This is by far the most popular explanation that informants have given and confirms
the findings of both Bonner and David Coplan.
$
D. Coplan, In the Time of Cannibals: The Word Music of South Africa’s Basotho
Migrants (Chicago, ), .

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     ‘ ’: – 
The feud between the Molapo\Masupha faction – known collectively as
Matsekha – and the Matsieng became a feature of Russian life in South
Africa and persists in various forms to this day.
The earliest documented flare-up of this rivalry in South Africa took place
in Vereeniging in the early s and continued through to  despite the
best efforts of chiefs sent from Basutoland in  to bring an end to the
fighting. These early conflicts between Matsieng and Molapo involved
%
Basotho from Vereeniging, Evaton and the East Rand. In fact, the story of
Hlalele of the Matsiengs had been chased out of Evaton by the Molapos only
Newclare South is not unrelated to these disputes as, by , Solomon
&
to establish himself as the leader of the Newclare Russians. Hlalele’s group,
violence which engulfed Newclare South for the remainder of the decade.
led by Lenkoane after Hlalele was deported in , was at the heart of the

The freehold township of Newclare was even more impoverished than the
neighbouring areas of Sophiatown, Martindale and Western Native Town-
ship. Housing was of a poorer standard, overcrowding was more prevalent
and a larger proportion of the population supplemented their income (or
supported themselves) through beer brewing. The southern portion of
Newclare, divided from the north by a railway line, was regarded as an
extremely rough neighbourhood. Predominantly populated by Basotho
migrant labourers and female beer brewers, Siteketekeng suffered from the
'
highest reported incidence of crime in the Western Areas. Free of the
control exercised by the city council, and sparsely policed (with the exception
of beer and pass raids) Newclare, and especially the South, was known as a
(
haven for criminals. It was in this environment that the Russians flourished
its Johannesburg headquarters.
and Matsieng, which operated in various townships across the Reef, set up
)
The Russians of Newclare South began to appear in official corre-
spondence and newspaper accounts in  as a result of their battles with
ethnically organized gangs and tsotsis (young gangsters who often targeted
migrant workers for assault and robbery), as well as their demands for
%
Central Archives Depot, Pretoria (hereafter CAD) NTS , file \, Native
Commissioner Vereeniging to the Director of Native Labour Johannesburg,  Dec. ;
CAD, NTS  file \, Chart of Native Unrest –; CAD, NTS  file
\, Director of Native Labour to the Secretary of Native Affairs,  May ,
Enclosure – Statement by Joel Molapo, clerk in the office of the Agent for the High
Commission Territories,  Apr. .
&
Interview, M.C., Lesotho,  May ; Guy and Thabane, ‘The Ma-Rashea’, ;
Bonner, ‘Russians on the reef’, .
'
City of Johannesburg Non-European Affairs Department, Survey of the Western
Areas, ‰ꢀ€, , , ; City of Johannesburg Non-European Affairs Department, Report
on a Sample Survey of the Native Population Residing in the Western Areas of Johannesburg,
‰ꢀ (issued ), , .
(
CAD, NTS  file \. Undated notes of Gideon Pott, Agent for the High
Commission Territories.
)
Interview, P.L., Lesotho,  May ; Bonner, ‘Russians on the reef, ; Guy and
Thabane, ‘The Ma-Rashea’, .

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protection fees from Newclare residents. The violent nature of Russian
activities did not escape police notice and prior to the Civilian Guard–
Russian conflict of late  and , dozens of Russians were arrested in
"!
Newclare, mainly on charges of public violence. The murder of a police
detective who had arrested several Russians was widely rumoured to be an
act of revenge, and a meeting of the Johannesburg City Council, the Native
Commissioner and senior police officers was convened in February  to
""
discuss strategies to break the power of the Russian gangs. Up to this time,
it is clear there was an official consensus that the Russians represented a
threat to security and order in Newclare. This was to change during the
course of the Russian conflicts with the Civilian Guard and its allies.
     
Communal policing initiatives had been in place in the Western Areas of
Johannesburg since the early s. They were generally welcomed by
residents because of the high incidence of violent crime which the police
were unable or unwilling to check. Indeed, because of the incessant and often
brutal raids for liquor and passes, the police were commonly regarded as
persecutors, not protectors. Military enlistment, which reduced the numbers
of the Johannesburg police during the early years of the Second World War,
resulted in the formation of the government-administered Civilian Pro-
tection Service (CPS). The CPS attracted over a thousand volunteers from
across the black townships of Johannesburg, and while the neighbouring
areas of Western Native Townships and Sophiatown contributed significant
numbers of these volunteers, none came from crime-ridden Newclare.
Following the demise of the CPS in , disbanded by the authorities who
regarded it as a wartime contingency, residents of the Western Areas
persistently, albeit fruitlessly, petitioned for permission to form a replace-
ment organization. Finally, in August , in the face of police opposition
and despite the lack of official sanction, residents, acting through their
"#
Advisory Boards and Ratepayer’s Associations, formed a Civilian Guard.
Guard groups on the Rand were viewed with trepidation by the state pri-
marily because of their links with the African National Congress (ANC) and
the South African Communist Party (SACP). The police saw the guards as
an embarrassment, a testament to the fact that the SAP was unable to control
crime in the locations. The self-proclaimed mandate of these guards was to
patrol the streets, to disarm people found with weapons and to turn offenders
over to the police. Just as in the past, this latest communal policing
movement garnered little if any support in Newclare South where the
Russians were determined to consolidate a power base.
Shortly after the northern-based guards began their patrols in Siteketekeng
in November , fighting erupted. Given the mandate of the guards –
*
CAD, NTS  file \. P. Grobler, Chief Inspector SAP, Johannesburg to
Deputy Commissioner SAP, Witwatersrand Division,  July .
"!
"#
Star,  Mar. .
Sunday Times,  Feb. ; Bantu World,  Mar. .
The information in this paragraph is taken from D. Goodhew, ‘The people’s police
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force: communal policing initiatives in the Western Areas of Johannesburg, c. –’,
Journal of Southern African Studies, ,  (), –.