Two men who were caught red-handed with stolen electrical cables at Zwigodini on Wednesday, 2 February, were beaten and burnt to death by angry community members.
According to an eyewitness, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the two men had destroyed the electrical tower next to Tshipise Primary School the previous Saturday (28 January). "We have had no network in the area since Saturday and started to investigate the situation. A taxi driver told us that two guys who boarded his taxi on Saturday were carrying two big bags, but he didn't see what was inside the bags. We told all the taxi drivers who operate between Tshipise and Thohoyandou to be vigilant," he said.
On Wednesday, the two men boarded the same taxi with the same suspicious bags. "The taxi driver phoned some members of the community and alerted them about the guys. We told him to drive slowly, and we followed the taxi," the witness said.
He said they had stopped the taxi at Zwigodini village and started searching the passengers' bags, but the two men had refused to let them search their bags. "This infuriated members of the community, who searched their bags by force and found some stolen cables. One of the men was Zimbabwean, while the other one was a local guy," he said.
According to the witness, the men were dragged back to Tshipise tsha Sagole, where members of the community started to assault them. Realising that the men were not going to tell them who had sent them to steal the cables, the mob set them alight and burnt them to death.
"We are warning those who are thinking of stealing our electrical cables here at Tshipise tsha Sagole to think twice, because if we catch you, you will face the same consequences. You either take us to those who sent you, or we burn you to death," the source concluded.
Meanwhile, Vhembe District's acting police communications officer, Sergeant Vuledzani Dathi, confirmed that they have opened a murder docket in connection with the killing of the two suspected cable thieves. "People should refrain from taking the law into their own hands. We call on members of the community to hand people who are suspected of committing crimes over to the police," he said.