Documentary Description
British TV presenter Louis Theroux (son of Paul) parachuted into
South Africa again, this time for the BBC, to look at the policing of
crime in Johannesburg. The film focuses on the private security
business, mainly the controversial Mapogo a Mathamaga, who mete out
violence on the spot to suspected criminals (”an African solution to an
African problem,” says a farmer who has Mapogo on retainer). It also
covers the clearly criminally compromised Bad Boyz, who “reclaims and
secures
buildings that have been taken over, or hijacked, by criminal gangs
who illegally take rent from tenants,” the notorious Red Ants who evict
residents on behalf of the local municipality and by private owners,
and residents who execute criminals in a poor neighborhood (”people are
killed like chickens,” says a local).
Louis, showing his extraordinary bravery, speaks to one criminal who
goes into what how he extorts money, by attacking people’s children,
sticking people’s heads in ovens, holding knives to necks… the list
went on… but in all of this, Theroux didn’t go all Daily Mail on us,
but rather, recognised the dire situation that showed a futile and dire
situation that created more victims than victors, with a people who had
completely lost faith with the official police force.
|
