The Police Ministry has called on South African communities to desist from taking the law into their own hands, no matter the circumstances.
This clarion call comes as Police Minister, General Bheki Cele and the South African Police Service (SAPS) management led a Crime Prevention Imbizo in Limpopo on Friday 2 September 2022, attended by residents from villages in and around the Sekhukhune District.
During this community engagement, residents of the rural communities tabled their crime concerns, relating to amongst other things; allegations of police corruption and slow response by the local police to their safety needs.
The Sekhukhune Policing district has seen increasing incidents of mob attacks, four people have lost their lives in this way in the recent weeks.
On Wednesday, 17 August 2022, two suspected robbers in the Siloam policing area outside Thohoyandou, were brutally murdered. The two men were stoned to death in an apparent mob attack and their bodies burnt, allegedly by community members at Tshavhalovhedzi village.
According to police reports, three suspects allegedly robbed a 23 year-old woman of her cellphone and other belongings at the local Plaza. They then attempted to kidnap her in full view of the bystanders but left her and drove off after she screamed for help.
Community members gave chase and caught up with the robbers, after crashing their getaway vehicle. Two of the suspects were killed and the third suspect was rescued by the police and arrested. The suspects’ motor vehicle was also torched during the incident.
In the same policing area, another mob attack has claimed the lives of two suspected cellphone thieves who allegedly stole a cellphone near a mall.
During the Ministerial Crime Prevention Imbizo hosted in Jane Furse, some residents present at acknowledged the local police efforts in servicing the community despite existing constraints.
However, some residents have attributed vigilantism to attested suspects not facing the full might of the law and at times, the slow response times from the police, tasked with policing the expansive rural area.
Addressing the Imbizo, Minister Cele has strongly condemned and discouraged these violent and criminal mob attacks.
“We accept that policing service delivery can and should be improved but at no point can taking matters into your own hands as residents, be condoned or accepted as a normal practice in any society. There simply is no justice in the so called ‘mob justice’ but it is criminal acts that will be harshly dealt with.”
To urgently address the policing shortcomings and improve service delivery in the policing area, a cold case team will be established and report to Detectives division at National level; to look at all cases that may have been closed prematurely. Parallel to that process, Minister Cele has ordered for the Civilian Secretariat for the Police Service; an entity of the ministry, to put together a diagnostic report on the local police station.
The report which is expected to be submitted in two weeks, will serve as a guiding tool for the SAPS management in the province, led by Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Thembi Hadebe, to urgently address personnel, resource and service delivery challenges at station level.
The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) will be investigating allegations of police brutality and corruption reported in the area.
