He approached several black policemen (who were unarmed until the 1980s) who, when they spotted the tsotsis, starting running.
He remembers walking in downtown Joburg when, turning around, he noticed he was being followed by some tsotsis.
Some writers describe situations where paranoid fears of crime and violence are dissolved by friendly warmth and wry smiles of supposed tsotsis instead.
Even the tsotsis, the unkempt street ruffians of the 1930s, began to embrace the quest for style in the 1950s.
These aims were not realized: high unemployment persisted; urban gangs such as the tsotsis and the Russians, as well as delinquency, flourished.
1.1historical A young black gangster belonging to a group prominent in the 1940s and 1950s, affecting a special language and flashy dress.
〈史〉（20世纪40年代和50年代势力最大的流氓团体中说黑话、衣着花哨的）年轻黑人流氓
Origin
1940s: said to be a Sotho corruption of zoot suit.