Cape Town - A discussion facilitated by the Dullah Omar Institute as part of Africa Criminal Justice Reform project at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) made an attempt to communicate the complications associated with prison numbers gangs, the language of sabela and how street gangs were not conforming to prison ‘rules’.
Focusing on the 26, 27 and 28 hierarchical structure, Heinrich Veloen made specific reference to the use of sabela, originally known as Sesfanakaloku, the lingua franca of South African mineworkers during the 19th century, which has now evolved into the primary language spoken by numbers gang members.
“The existence of the numbers is widely associated with ongoing patterns of conflict and violence in South African prisons – between inmates and warders, between inmates, as well as between rival prison gangs.
“While engaging the ‘problems’ associated with the numbers gang is central, rather than peripheral, to managing South African prisons according to constitutional guidelines, the Department of Correctional Services is yet to rise to the policy challenges,” Veloen said.
As part of his research, he spoke on Tuesday of how difficult it was for people who have adopted the number in prison to adjust to the communities they come from, due to “rejection”.
“You will find a lot of gang members just loitering around the streets because they have been rejected by the community,” Veloen said.
In answering questions from the 123 participants, mostly academics who observed the presentation, Veloen was asked if it’s possible to “resign” from a gang. Veloen said: “That is a difficult question. When I sit down with a 27 gang member who decided to change his life to attend church and wants to follow God, he explains the challenges because he needs permission to leave; the understanding is if you enter you can’t leave… The only place that he believes he can be accepted is in prison because he has been rejected in the community.”
He said according to prison gang rules, tattoos and the code of sabela is an integral part of being a gang member. A prison gang member will not be recognised if he does not understand the language and is unable to communicate with that specific code.
You cannot claim to be a gang member if you don’t speak sabela. Only seniors have tattoos, and junior gang members must work their way up in the number.
These tattoos are important for gang membership, it is something they are extremely proud of. It demands absolute loyalty to gang rules. He said street gangs adopt these tattoos or way of behaviour without the knowledge or the work that goes into adopting the number, which may lead to serious consequences, according to the rules.
He said wearing a false or an unearned tattoo could lead to consequences during a “parliament sitting of the gang”, where the tattoo signifies status and rank of military opulence and indicates attachment to a specific criminal lifestyle.
Veloen’s research, “The Numbers Gang in South African Correctional Facilities: Reflections on Structures, Functions and Culture,” was published in 2022.
Asked about how people were promoted inside in terms of these specific ranks he said: “The specifics of being promoted has changed over the years.”