LOCAL CAPE TOWN NGO WORKING TO REHABILITATE GANG

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAPE TOWN 000044 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/05/2019 TAGS: GTIP KCRM SF SOCI SUBJECT: LOCAL CAPE TOWN NGO WORKING TO REHABILITATE GANG MEMBERS Classified By: CG ALBERTA MAYBERRY for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (U) On February 27, Poloff and PAO met with Reverend Jacobus Nomdoe, Director of Teen Challenge. Among other things, Teen Challenge targets gang members by removing them from the gang and placing them in the center. The program aims to rehabilitate these former gang members primarily through education and hopes to build a skills development center for job training as well. Teen Challenge uses a Christian based curriculum that lasts 14 months and has a 75-86 percent success rate among people who finish the program. Those who are not successful often go back to the gangs. Currently, there are 45 people living in the center participating in Reverend Nomdoe,s program. Sometimes parents bring in their children and other times the center goes into the community to recruit. Currently, the ages of the center,s residents range from 13-38 years old. ¶2. (C) Nomdoe explained to Consulate officers that local gangs recruit boys and girls as young as 11 to join their gangs. The more established gangs will pay the school fees, uniforms, food and whatever else a child might need for years until the child reaches around 11 or 12 years old, then the gang approaches the family to 'take control of the child.' Often times the gang pays the expenses of a child because the child,s mother is a single parent and can not afford to pay these expenses, very well knowing that the gang will take control of the child whenever they want. The gangs will often give the children crystal meth (called Tik in SA). Currently, gangs are mixing the Tik with a strawberry shaped and flavored candy in order to get the children hooked. ¶3. (C ) In addition, gangs often use these young children (both boys and girls) for sex. The gang leader is always the first to have sex with a new &member and then will pass the child around to other gang members. In order to be initiated into the gang, the new member must have sex with between 20-30 gang members. New members can also be initiated if they kill someone in a rival gang. Like gangs anywhere else in the world, local gangs make their money from prostitution, drug money, theft, and crack houses, said Nomdoe. One local gang, "the Americans," insist that new members pay an initiation fee, which is usually garnered through theft or other illicit activities. ¶4. ( C ) Nomdoe said there are between 3000-8000 gang members in the Cape Flats area of Cape Town. There is also a confederation of gang members called The Firm,, which operates all over South Africa. In addition, the Chinese triad, the Russian mafia and the Nigerian mafia work together with local gangs in trafficking of drugs and persons. After a girl has outlived her usefulness as a prostitute or becomes pregnant, many gangs will auction the girl off to the highest bidder, explained Nomodoe. Teen Challenge has bought several girls at the price of $50-$200 USD per person. Often these girls are only 13-14 years old and some of them are already mothers. The girls who are not lucky enough to be "bought" by Teen Challenge are sold to the Nigerians, Chinese, and Russians, usually to work in local sex clubs, said Nomodoe. ¶5. (C) It is not uncommon for female associates of gangs to achieve positions of power and influence within a gang, provided they are sufficiently cunning and ruthless. After all, as Nomdoe pointed out, a gang leader,s wife or girlfriend might know everything that the gang leader knows. But managing such a high-wire act is not a realistic QBut managing such a high-wire act is not a realistic possibility for most of these girls, who are young, impoverished, and without much freedom of movement. ¶6. ( C) In 2008, Nomodoe uncovered a recruitment ring where gangs are preparing women for prostitution during the 2010 World Cup. He believes that there will be an increase in gang violence in the upcoming months as gangs fight over turf in preparation for 2010. He also noted that the police recently caught gang members who were inviting primary aged school children into limousines to show them pornographic movies as a preliminary step in their recruitment efforts. MAYBERRY