Vigilantism is a prevalent in South Africa and in recent years, many cases have occurred where communities have opted to take matters into their own hands instead of waiting for the authorities to act.
LITTLE FAITH IN POLICE
In 2022, 7% of the 27,000 murders in South Africa were attributed to mob justice and vigilantism, which was more than double the number from five years earlier, and in the first nine months of 2023, there were 1,472 mob justice deaths from the gruesome violent Zandspruit massacre in May 2021, where eight young people who were accused of terrorising the community were raided one by one and burnt alive, to the killings during the July unrest two months later, to Operation Dudula's march across the nation in 2022. Crime statistics for the last quarter of 2023 show that at least 431 murders were linked to vigilantism and mob justice attacks in the country. Gauteng registered 84 incidents, followed by the Eastern Cape with 80 and KwaZulu-Natal with 78.
HORRIFIC MOB ATTACKS
In March, two men were attacked by an angry, misinformed community in Diepkloof, Soweto after they were seen carrying a TV. Community members then assumed that the TV was stolen. However, it wasn't. It was a gift from a man they had worked for earlier in the week. The attack on the two was so brutal that one died while another spent weeks in hospital. In September this year, three men were killed in a suspected mob attack case in Sebokeng. Police say the trio had allegedly robbed and killed a 29-year-old man from the same neighbourhood, prompting the community to take the law into their own hands. Gauteng police spokesperson Mavela Masondo said: "The community was mobilised and searched for the suspects. They found them hiding inside a container and took them to Sebokeng Zone 12, where they assaulted and burnt them. All three vigilante victims were certified dead on the scene."
In KZN, a male teacher was attacked in full view of learners and teachers with golf sticks, sticks and knobkerries during class from Zwelibanzi High in Umlazi, south of Durban. The KZN Education Department said it was not clear why the teacher was subjected to such brutality. It is suspected that a parent who had an altercation with the teacher in the morning organised about five men who returned to the school and attacked him. Provincial Education spokesperson Muzi Mahlambi condemned the attack. "This one is disappointing. You can't have parents attacking teachers in front of their children. What kind of example is this?' Mahlambi asked.
In Mthatha in the Eastern Cape, police are still investigating an alleged mob justice attack from September that left two men dead in retaliation for the murder of a woman at her home. Provincial police spokesperson Colonel Siphokazi Mawisa said a neighbour discovered the body of the woman after seeing two men running from the woman's home. The neighbour alerted the community, which allegedly chased after the two men. "Soon after, the two men who were allegedly seen running from the scene were found dead in grazing land at Lukhwethu Location in Bityi with multiple injuries," Mawisa said.
NOT ACCEPTABLE
The Gauteng Legislature Portfolio Committee on Community Safety has called on residents to refrain from taking the law into their own hands. Committee Chairperson, Bandile Masuku, said, "Mob justice and vigilantism have no space in our communities as they further exacerbate unacceptable criminality and lawlessness. There can never be any justification for residents to take the law into their own hands, as this too is tantamount to criminality. Those found guilty of this crime will find themselves having to face the full might of the law." The National Commissioner of the South African Police Service(SAPS), General Fannie Masemola condemned vigilante attacks and urged communities to refrain from taking matters into their own hands. "We strongly condemn acts of vigilantism and therefore appeal to communities not to commit these acts. The law will deal decisively with those who commit such acts, "said Masemola.
