‘Our space with our rules’: addicts and the imaginary world of prison gangs in rural South Africa

Abstract In the economically depressed coastal villages and small towns of the Eastern Cape, violent community activism is instigated against young jobless men who commit petty crimes, and who use illicit synthetic stimulants (crystal methamphetamine) and sedatives such as methaqualone mixed with marijuana. Labelled as ‘parasites’ ( amaphara ), they are cast out of the towns, rejected by their families, subjected to tortuous punishment, and have their status as initiated men revoked. In response to forced eviction from the towns to the villages, they gather in ‘secret places’ ( enyobeni ) – derelict buildings located on the outskirts of residential settlements, hidden away from the public gaze. In the enyobeni they recreate the imaginary world of the South African prison number gang by performing rituals, using secret language and signs, adhering to gang rules, and invoking the spirits of the original gang leaders. Engendering sociality, care and respect, these social formations reject the policing of addiction and the stigma of being amaphara .