Suspected criminals survive “mob justice” attack

Mob justice is fast becoming a way of life for residents of Vhembe, who say they are tired of crime being committed in their area.

In recent months, numerous incidents of mob justice, where criminals met the wrath of the community and received instant justice, were reported in the Thohoyandou shopping complex and the surrounding villages. Residents in these areas, who have had enough of crime, have vowed to do it in their own style and take the law into their own hands, instead of reporting crimes to police. 

In one of the most recent and most shocking incidents in Thohoyandou, a man notoriously known for being a ruthless robber and killer, who did as he wished, was attacked by an angry mob at one of the busiest taxi ranks in town. He was allegedly caught robbing an elderly woman of her purse and cell phone. The man was attacked with a variety of weapons and was torched alive as he begged for mercy. He was killed in the incident.

Two weeks ago, just about the whole town came to a standstill as shoppers rushed to a scene where a suspected car thief was caught in the act next to Absa Mutsindo Mall. Eyewitnesses said the man had already opened a car belonging to an unidentified woman and was about to speed off when he was accosted by suspicious shoppers. After trying to run away, he was caught by the mob and that was when all hell broke loose.

He was attacked with anything that the shoppers could lay their hands on and, just as the angry mob was about to set him alight, security guards of the complex took him away to a building at the complex. They summoned the police, who came but were not able to take the man away as the angry shoppers bayed for the man’s life.

The police then fired rubber bullets at the angry shoppers, who had by then threatened to burn the alleged thief alive. They were able to load the alleged criminal into a police nyala. Those at the scene blamed the police for "protecting criminals". Several agitated shoppers said that the police "should have left him to us, so that we could sort him out, but they protected him. Our message is loud and clear: we won't tolerate this and criminals should beware as we won’t have mercy on them”.

Thohoyandou police spokesperson Major Mashudu Malelo confirmed the incident and further said that two more incidents had occurred during the weekend in Thohoyandou. He said in the incident that happened next to Absa, two of their vehicles were damaged during the fracas with angry shoppers. According to him, thousands of rands worth of damage was caused to the vehicles.

“We have opened a malicious-damage-to-property [case] in the first incident and there are no arrests so far. No case was registered against the alleged thief as no one came forward to open a case,” said Malelo. He said the second incident happened on Saturday afternoon next to the plaza taxi rank, when a man tried to run away with groceries belonging to an old woman. “Residents gave chase and only the arrival of security guards, who took the man away, saved him from certain death as shoppers wanted to necklace him. On Sunday, a man believed to be behind the spate of robberies and other crimes was also nearly necklaced by angry community members."

He added that mob justice was becoming a headache for the police. "Please report all crimes to us and we will take it from there. We strongly condemn acts of mob justice as it puts the victims and those involved on par with criminals, with both breaking the law and being liable for arrest."

Date:27 May 2016

By: Elmon Tshikhudo

Elmon Tshikhudo started off as a photographer. He developed an interest in writing and started submitting articles to local as well as national publications. He became part of the Limpopo Mirror family in 2005 and was a permanent part of the news team until 2019.

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