green bean, noun phrase

Forms:
Also with initial capitals.
Origin:
So named for the colour of their uniforms.
slang
A derisive name for a township municipal policeman; greenfly. Also attributive. See also council police.
1987 M. Badela in Weekly Mail 5 June 1Flanked by ‘green bean’ council police, State President PW Botha enters Sebokeng...State President PW Botha yesterday delivered his first direct invitation to black South Africans to participate in national government — behind the massed guns of several hundred soldiers, police and township ‘green bean’ police.
1989 M. Tyala in Sunday Times 29 Jan. 7Kitskonstabels and municipal policemen (known in the townships as blackjacks or green beans) have been criticised from various quarters since their introduction a few years ago.
1989 S. Tema in City Press 19 Feb. 1Residents said Stompie together with his best friend..were always at odds with the ‘Green Beans’ — the township’s municipal police.
1990 Weekly Mail 2 Mar. 7Many said they saw ‘green beans’ (municipal police) gathering next to a house near the Constantia shopping centre where the march was to begin.
1990 R. Malan My Traitor’s Heart 217‘Blackjacks’ or ‘greenbeans’ — young black men who were given guns, uniforms, and three weeks’ police training and sent in to shore up the collapsing structures of state.
A derisive name for a township municipal policeman; greenfly. Also attributive.
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slang
green and gold, noun phrasen. phr. & adjectival phraseadj. phr.greenfly, nounn.
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