South Africa: Proudly Manenberg

Manenberg, a township of approximately 70,000 residents some 20 kilometres from Cape Town city centre, is notorious for gangs, drugs and crime. As in many South African townships, the primary role models for young people are gang leaders because they can afford a better lifestyle than most other residents. Schools are deprived and there are few community services.

In Manenberg, some children start their school days by walking through fortified gates.

A group of former anti-apartheid activists decided to help turn things around. All of them grew up in Manenberg, but most have moved out, chiefly for safety reasons, but also because there are few employment opportunities in the community. Their campaign, "Proudly Manenberg," is consciously not "anti" anything. Instead, they want to be positive.

"We want to turn around the negative perception many people have of Manenberg," says Irvin Kinnes, an independent criminologist, former United Nations Vienna Civil Society Award recipient and campaign co-founder. "We're investing in the community through young people. It's about creating opportunities for them, particularly through education."

Proudly Manenberg is run entirely on a voluntary basis and funds are limited. However, occasional fundraising events are held and people involved are encouraged to make donations.

Last year, the campaign managed to give scholarships to 12 young people who would not have been able to attend university otherwise. The scholarship recipients have outstanding academic records and are highly motivated for further studies.

Some of them have also experienced severe personal hardships, such as one of the 2005 awardees, who is a former methamphetamine ("tik") addict. "She's now doing very well in her graphic design studies," Kinnes says.

In addition to providing scholarships, the campaign is looking into offering community services such as academic support for students, training for teachers and leadership development.

Gangs are prominent in Manenberg, and many of the development initiatives that have been run in the township over the years have sought to deal with this problem through dialogue and constructive engagement with gang members. This strategy may be counterproductive, Kinnes says, because it legitimizes the gangs.

Proudly Manenberg is taking a different approach by not engaging with gangs at all. Knowing full well that they are an entrenched part of the community, the aim is to close down some of their operating space and thus start suffocating them.


Some of the recipients of Proudly Manenberg scholarships.