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- A Stuijt
- Retired South African medical journalist, ex-Sunday Times of Johannesburg.
Unnecessary panic about Africa-signs in Pretoria
08:12 | 
Posted by
A Stuijt |
December 9 2009 -- Africa-field-writing expert Lukas Swart warns this week that there's a lot of unnecessary panic-mongering and disinformation about a specific "African-field-writing sign" spotted in Pretoria at the moment -- and that this disinformation often is even being spread by security-companies...
"Not all signs are African field-writing,' he warns. The latest example of this disinformation is a small spray-painted sign resembling a red Christmas stocking, which residents in the Pierre van Ryneveld suburb have been noticing outside their homes of late. The local residents reported that these marks are spray-painted on the sidewalks or just beneath lamp-posts. It is reproduced below:
Writes Pierre van Ryneveld resident Francois Jonker: "I've done a quick patrol through the neighbourhood and found 6 marks, but there may be more. One of the houses at Windswawel Street with such a mark was burgled on November 6 2009. I have also spoken to a resident in Volstruis street whom says the mark has been there over a month." An email has been circulating among security companies and police crime-prevention units to this effect.
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The advice from Swart is that this one pictured above is not a genuine African field-sign and would not indicate that a house is being marked for burglar or other crime however. “ There's also a lot of unnecessary panic-mongering by security companies which interpret such signs incorrectly,' he warns, adding that this specific sign is rather suspect. He writes: "I have undertaken 15 years of empirical research in the SADF to investigate these signs for the purpose of crime-identification. After I left the defence force, I continued this research and now have 22 years of experience and am still learning.'
"This specific spray-painted sign which people believe as being an African field-sign, is however very suspect to me and, following all the standards known to me about this at the moment, do not follow the usual pattern of African field-writing. I suspect that instead, its origin rather is some security company or another which is trying to spread panic in communities to increase their membership and income," he said.
Swart explains that there is a lot of genuine African-field-writing which people also should not worry about because they merely are used as a social-function. Learning to differentiate between these signs is what he’s been teaching and studying for the past 22 years. One can obtain a low-cost book and a CD explaining the true meanings of African Field Writing in Afrikaans from his organisation, AKSKA. He also travels across the country teaching detailed courses on ways to prevent crimes or confuse lead criminal gangs – but he repeats that it’s important that people don’t mess around with the signs themselves before checking with experts first. Learning these courses will help people learn to ‘read many of the signs in one’s immediate environment.
However he warns people should never take steps on their own regarding these perceived Africa-Signs because they could be misinterpreting them and make dreadful mistakes which could endanger their lives.
These signs flourish all across Africa -- despite cellphone communications – and will probably never die out, he believes: “They serve a social function all across the continent, including inside South Africa. It's the best method to communicate securely for African tribal communities - and such 'muti's' which are part of African culture, for instance also are used as a form of security to warn criminals when their plans have been compromised".
What does African Field Writing look like?
He said Westerners require only 26 letters in their alphabet to fully communicate all their messages, feelings and intentions with.”Tribal Africans however are group-oriented – and his aspect of their culture is expressed the best in their ways of communicating. They can describe a person exactly for instance without being able to write that person's name.
"African field-signs are expressed in forms, colours, objects and numbers. There are between 75 to 100 forms which each combine into one 'meaning'.
They also are expressed in colours - and each individual colour has its own meaning; so with a combination of colours, they can express and communicate one meaning 100%. They are also expressing their meanings with objects - such as tree-bark from various trees will have different meanings; as do individual dead reptiles. Objects like this usually are used to support forms and colours. They also use numbers - and these were brought in by the communists to support crime-signs. For instance a number 7 usually means a knife. A Nr 4 usually refers to a specific place; a number 5 with security; and combinations of figures which each carry their own meaning. The most astonishing about these signs is that they also can link specific distance to one another. For instance, a Coke-tin on the erf in front of your street, may form part of a series of African-field-writing signs which explain the times when there is dagga (marijuana) available at a shebeen (informal pub) three kilometres away.
Most of the African field-writing signs relate to some social activity such as the times when servants go off-duty; which houses give food to beggars; where marriages, funerals and parties take place.These signs also show where there are political factions in specific areas – or indicate places where political meetings are being held.
African field-writing signs and crime-plans:
Such signs however also indicate the places where drugs and prostitutes can be found, which shebeens sell drugs. They can also indicate plans for robberies, house-burglaries, rapes being planned in the finest details. These can show you where weapons-caches are located; where insurgency routes are; where murders are being planned; where thefts of livestock, diesel, batteries or minerals take place.Criminal signs can indicate exactly by day, date and time within 2 minutes with great precision.
The Crime-signs Mandate System in southern Africa:
The Mandate-system was launched by the communists, is independent of political movements and is self-sufficient, he writes. “ It basically exists on two levels and has been an integral part of the communist revolution on the African continent. It now carries a different name, “The war of the classes’, but its tactics have not changed.
“Today the War of the Classes is the system of social inequality which, similar to apartheid before 1994, existed for centuries all across the world. One can read more about this interpretation of the War of the Classes system on the website http://www.zabalaza.net/ (picture left from ZABALAZA),” he writes.
“These criminals related to this Mandate system still undergo a six-month training programme and follow a two-year apprenticeship inside the gangs before they are declared ‘fully-fledged criminals.’
After they finish their crime-training, they are absorbed into the various crime-syndicates and those criminals who can identity specific opportunities for crimes are referred to as the Khid.
These are men who find new recruits in shebeens, courts, the CCMA and other sources and are always searching for ‘people with a specific problem’. Suppose that “Sanna,” who works for the Brink family, owes a debt to the OK bazaars for furniture and they threaten to reposses her lunge suite because of her payment arrears. The Khid will tell her that he can help her. He establishes the address of her place of work, whether she has keys to the house, whether she knows the code to the security gates; the number and kind of of vehicles owned by the family; whether there’s a safe in the house; where the safe is located; whether there’s contact between neighbours and if a neighbourhood-watch system is active. The list of questions this Khid will ask of the worker runs to more than 36.
He then submits a ‘business proposal’ to the Stakosh – also known as the Mission Corb. This person can be referred to a as a kind of ‘area crime-boss-manager” and various neighbourhoods can resort under his control. Among the Cape Flats crime-gangs he’s known as a General. All the crime-syndicates in his area of responsibility will be headed by him. Everything that is stolen, will be equally divided between him, the Khid team, the complainant (i.e the maid); and the hid-squad.
The Stakosh also pays a percentage of the crime’s profits to the Commissar. He’s like a provincial manager – but in crowded regions such as Gauteng there will be more than one Commissar creaming the earnings from crimes. Beneath each Commissar there are several Mission Cobs reporting to him. When the Mission Corb receives money from his crime-gangs, he will also have to pay a percentage to the Nkloko– he’s the head of the criminal system. Namibia and Zimbabwe each have one Nkloko In South Africa, there is a large committee of Nklokos. Between Rivonia and Lenasia for instance, there could be two Hklokos.
Each Nkloko receives a portion of the crime-loot paid to him in bales of cash. In some of the houses where they live, bales of cash can be stacked to the ceiling – and this cash is used for the next phase, which is the guerilla-phase where illegal arms are purchased. http://www.akska.co.za/modules/tinyd6/index.php?id=11
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