Amid spiralling crime in a marginalised South African township, local resident Pantsi Obusitse has formed a vigilante group called Operation Wanya Tsotsi. A controversial vigilante group fights for legitimacy in a crime-riddled South African township. The leader of a controversial vigilante group fights for legitimacy in a crime-riddled South African community. Amid spiralling crime and violence in the marginalised South African township of Galeshewe, local resident Pantsi Obusitse has formed a vigilante group called Operation Wanya Tsotsi. The group has set about administering its own DIY brand of justice with a focus on corporal punishment. “People were angry; people couldn’t take it any more. We went out with machetes, spades. Every weapon that is there. We were carrying weapons. We went out to hunt these boys. Because we know them, who are terrorising our communities,” says Pantsi Obusitse, chairperson of Operation Wanya Tsotsi. “We had to take an approach that is abnormal, because we are facing an abnormal situation.” Despite its controversial methods, Operation Wanya Tsotsi has gained widespread support within Galeshewe and demand for the group’s limited resources is growing. But the response from the South African state and a stretched local police department has been ambivalent. The Reluctant Vigilante follows the trajectory of Obusitse, his continuing quest for legitimacy in a country with a long and often brutal history of vigilante violence, and his complex relationship with law enforcement and the local community.

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