This zinc enclosure, hidden between two shacks in a South African township, is a hot little corner of hell. The dog inside, a powerful pit bull, cowers as the door is broken open and the torches of the raid team shine on him. He’s one of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of dogs kept in hiding, chained and neglected, to serve an explosion of dog fighting across the country.
It’s a crime which occurs far from middle-class homes and businesses – yet it serves as both an indicator and predictor of crime that looms over them. Where dog fighting flourishes, drugs, gambling, organized crime, thievery, assault and murder march in lockstep.
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“Dog fighters are violent criminals that engage in a whole host of peripheral criminal activities. Many are heavily involved in organized crime, racketeering, drug distribution, or gangs, and they arrange and attend the fights as a forum for gambling and drug trafficking,” wrote Hannah Gibson, in a study published by the College of Law of Michigan State University in 2005.
But why has this crime taken off in South Africa?
Twenty years ago, in a Gauteng study of complaints registered at major branches of the SPCA (the local arm of the animal welfare organization NSPCA), dog fighting didn’t even feature, says Wendy Willson, Manager of NSPCA’s Special Investigations Unit – there was just one report where two dogs jumped their walls and mixed it up. But “in the 2014-2015 statistics, there were over 1,290 reports of dog fighting to the NSPCA.”
These ballooning stats are just the tip of the iceberg; dog fighting has almost no recognition among the public and police in South Africa. Most people have no idea that it is a crime and police have been known to laugh in disbelief when animal welfare organizations report incidents.
The same applies to the rest of Africa. Dog fighting as a crime is almost unheard of, although it has leaked out into surrounding Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries, such as Namibia, to a limited extent. But the SPCA in Kenya, for example, says there is no dog fighting there, while Uganda’s SPCA “suspected but could not confirm” some isolated incidents.
However, Amina Abaza, Chair of the Society for the Protection of Animal Rights in Egypt (SPARE), says dog fighting is an issue in Egypt.
“It is becoming more and more popular, especially in the lower class of the society,” she says.
In Egypt, it’s not yet against the law and videos of fights are often posted online. People import dogs from Eastern Europe.
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“Each litter will bring them money,” says Abaza.
“It’s a symptom of an economic time and of a defiant and desperate youth,” says Willson.
Dog fighting occurs worldwide, especially where young men have little prospects and feel emasculated, as shown in a 2008 study of dog fighting among low-income youth in London. But, in South Africa, it has an added layer of ferocity and is largely driven by bloodlust, says Willson.
It’s a perfect vicious circle: exposure to dog fighting at a young age reduces empathy. Older boys and young men maintain the circle by inducting a new generation of children into this secretive world.
In Duduza, a township east of Johannesburg, the NSPCA were approached by a school concerned at the behavior of about 20 pupils, who were mimicking dog fights in the playground – biting, growling and attacking each other, and even playing out the mating of dogs. These boys, aged between nine and 13, had been introduced to dog fighting by an older boy or man whom they looked up to. School records show behavior changes over six months: “Elevated aggression levels, bullying and violent outbursts,” says Willson, noting that one child attacked his teacher with a six-inch nail.
In the hyper-stimulating and ‘fraternal’ atmosphere of a dog fight, these boys are exposed to unbelievable brutality. It is an introduction to a network of criminality that drives an inability to understand another’s pain and fear. Often violence becomes part of the thrill.
Fortunately, the criminal justice system and communities are beginning to take this issue seriously. In 1995, an early dog fighting bust netted several people who were fined (the wider group all chipped in to pay the fines). Today, dog fighters go to jail.
The NSPCA Special Investigations Unit gathers evidence patiently, over many months, and keeps the identities of informants safe, to construct a strong case in court. They’ve developed an ability to forensically examine dog carcasses and bones and determine what kind of fighting the dog has been forced into from the lesions on the bones.
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“It’s important that communities, especially parents, understand [that] when their children get involved in dog fighting, they risk criminal records – which means they’ll probably never work,” says Cora Bailey of Community Led Animal Welfare (CLAW), an organization that is trying to educate people on the dangers of dog fighting in townships west of Johannesburg.
“Communities know how dangerous dog fighting is, to them and their children,” says Bailey. “They don’t want this going on next door. They know it ups the violence quotient considerably.”
The violence of dog fighting is not only felt by the dogs, the community is also being hurt, despite being unaware that a cruel blood sport is becoming rampant near their homes.

The Criminal World Of Dog Eat Dog

As early as 8AM on December 8, in the farming town of Middelburg in Mpumalanga, a province in north east South Africa, a portion of Beyers Naude Street, near the Middelburg Magistrate’s Court was cordoned off. A heavy group of armed police guarded a huge crowd marching up and down and shouting political slogans.
Inside the court two men, Willem Oosthuizen and Theo Jackson, stood in the dock awaiting their fate on a plea for bail before their trial for assault and kidnapping. Before 11AM, Magistrate Jongilizwe Dumehleli dismissed the application. As the news reached the crowd outside, a celebration erupted and cheers and clenched fists were raised in song. A hero’s welcome greeted Victor Rethabile Mlotshwa, a plaintiff, as he emerged from the court surrounded by African National Congress regional leaders.
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“I am grateful of the judgment today, I hope the justice will be served and these people get what they deserve,” says Mlotshwa.
Dressed in a baseball cap, golf shirt and pair of blue jeans, Mlotshwa and his mother were ushered to the back of a big truck, stationed outside the court, where politicians delivered speeches condemning racism in the divided town of Middelburg.
In November, video footage emerged on social media showing Oosthuizen and Jackson forcing a crying Mlotshwa into a coffin and threatening to pour petrol on him to burn him alive. The video sparked widespread outrage and the two were locked up.
“Thanks to technology, we would not have known about the video. Now, there’s concrete evidence against these racists. These days we are even afraid to send our children to work on farms because they suffer the same fate as the young Victor. If you can go to the farms and dig you will probably uncover skeletons of black people they are killing,” says Patricia Shongwe, a 50-year-old protester.
Thembi Magubane is a restaurant worker in Witbank, a 30-minute drive from Middelburg.
“I dropped everything to be here. This is the same treatment we get at the restaurant where I work. They force us to speak Afrikaans [which] we don’t understand and when something goes wrong we are to blame. We are treated like animals by these racist whites all the time,” says Magubane.
The only white person in the crowd supporting Mlotshwa was an ANC supporter who introduced herself only as Rose.
“I want to go in there and bliksem (hit) those guys, racism has no place in this country,” she says.
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But not everyone was in a celebratory mood; six white farmers who supported the accused were peeved. They accused the presiding magistrate of bias and indecisiveness.
“No, we are not their family members, we are here to support our community members. Farmers are killed every day but you don’t see us forcing judges to make decisions. This is appalling,” says one of them.
Tessa Riekert, leader of National Conservative Party in Mpumalanga, says she believes the accused deserved bail.
“I don’t think this was a fair judgment. Our famers are being killed daily, two or three or four famers. We have one farmer who was stabbed 49 times and killed, but the suspect was set free on a bail of R2000 ($145). So, is he not a danger to society?” says Riekert.
“What they have done is wrong, I absolutely don’t agree with it. They haven’t proven guilty but don’t we all make mistakes? This guy walked away with his life but our farmers don’t, they gang up on them and they kill them. [The crowd] forced this judge to get to this decision, by being here, by shouting political slogans. I am very disappointed murderers are walking in the street right now and they are carrying on with what they are doing. Honestly, I don’t think the court will give them a fair trial. We are in a minority, we cannot pull out a crowd like the ANC is doing right here. White genocide is ongoing every day,” she says.
The accused were to reappear on January 25.
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MIDDELBURG, SOUTH AFRICA NOVEMBER 2016: (SOUTH AFRICA OUT): Theo Jackson and Willem Oosthuizen during their appearance at the Middelburg Magistrates Court for allegedly assaulting and forcing a farm worker, Rethabile Victor Mlotshwa into a coffin on November 16, 2016 in Mpumalanga, South Africa. There has been an uproar after a viral video showing Jackson and Oosthuizen assaulting and forcing Mlotshwa into a coffin. The two accused abandoned their bail applications sighting security concerns. The case was postponed to January 25, 2016. (Photo by Alon Skuy/ The Times/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

Tag: Assault

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The Criminal World Of Dog Eat Dog

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