witdoekn.
/ˈvɪtdʊk/, U.S. /ˈvɪtˌdʊk/, South African English /ˈvɪ(t)dʊk/ South African.
A member of a conservative black vigilante movement operating in the townships around Cape Town, and identified by the wearing of a white cloth or scarf about the head. Chiefly in plural.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > law enforcement > law-enforcement or peace-officer > [noun] > vigilante committee > member of vigilante band or committee > specific
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1980 M. Tholo Diary 177 In those bushes there are a group of white-doeks. We're waiting for them.
1986 Cape Times 22 Mar. 2/8 A ‘bail fund’ reportedly to post bail for ‘witdoek’ fighters who were arrested in January.
1986 Cape Times 26 Mar. 1 About 300 ‘witdoeke’ there were told..to wear white strips of cloth round their heads ‘so we could know each other’.
1987 Sunday Tel. 28 June 9/5 ‘Fathers’ and ‘witdoek’ are both derived from the conservative vigilante forces which arose, allegedly with police help or connivance, to counter the comrades.
1990 Independent 15 Sept. 29/7 One of the nights when the witdoeks are around and the police are demolishing the shacks and burning them down.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1993; most recently modified version published online March 2020).
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n.1980