Abstract
This dissertation explores the emergence of communal policing initiatives in response to rampant crime and gang activities, with a particular focus on the Spoiler and Msomi gang in Alexandra township in the 1950s. This study aims to show how these communal policing initiatives, the Alexandra Anti-Crime Campaign and the Roadhouse Guard, formed to curb crime in the township, often evolved into criminal gangs. While government departments like the Native Affairs Department encouraged and commended the Alexandra Anti-Crime Campaign, the South African Police condemned communities’ self-organised efforts due to their lack of formal regulations. The absence of regulations often resulted in the excessive use of power by the civic guards, cultivating criminal elements within these groups. In the case of the Roadhouse Guards, this dissertation shows how, in the absence of formal state policing, this group evolved into the Msomi gang, a notorious criminal organisation that terrorised the residents of Alexandra. These complexities increasingly blurred the lines between crime and communal policing initiatives in Alexandra township in the 1950s. Using primary archival sources such as newspapers, magazines, court transcripts, and police reports, this dissertation examines the emergence of communal policing initiatives and their eventual evolution into criminal gangs, further revealing interpersonal dynamics within these gangs.