The South African government has embarked on a programme of encouraging social cohesion in South Africa first to address concerns stemming from high levels of violent crime which characterise the society, and second, to foster positive national identity in a complex, heterogeneous, racialised and stratified nation. Through a discussion of the impact of violent crime on emergent forms of community, this paper argues that the practices of communities evolving in the post-apartheid period show tendencies toward fragmentation rather than unification, undermining efforts of 'nation-building'.