ABSTRACT
Young men in Cape Town grow up in one of the most segregated and unequal cities of the world. While South Africans refer to the city as ‘Mother City’, the problem of crime also provided the city with nicknames like ‘Gang Town’, ‘Rape Town’ and ‘Murder Capital’. In daily life, young men living in Cape Town are exposed to a range of serious risks in addition to the risk of crime. Poverty, unemployment, shack living, poor health, substance abuse and racism are all issues young men in this book describe dealing with. South African men in general experience extraordinary risks of violence caused by crime, as this is the leading cause of death among males (Donson 2008). Young men in the age group of 15-29 have the highest homicide victimisation rate in the country (184 per 100 000), and this age group is also significantly overrepresented in the statistics on homicide suspects (CSVR 2008). In township areas, the victimisation rate among young men is more than twice the average for young men in other areas.
