VZCZCXRO2141
RR RUEHDU
DE RUEHTN #0044 0651339
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 061339Z MAR 09
FM AMCONSUL CAPE TOWN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2971
INFO RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA 6311
RUEHDU/AMCONSUL DURBAN 3238

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