The Provincial Commissioner of the SAPS in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant General Semakaleng Daphney Manamela has strongly condemned an incident of mob justice whereby a man believed to be in his early 20’s was brutally murdered and set alight next to a vehicle which caught fire as well.
The horrific incident occurred at Ruth First in Mzinti near Tonga in the afternoon of Tuesday, 15 February 2022.
Currently police at Tonga are working around the clock to uncover details on what might have sparked the attack.
Reports indicate of unconfirmed allegations that on Monday night, 14 February 2022 a certain group of suspects, including the victim, tried to rob a certain shop around Mzinti area then some community members accosted them. Further information states that the victim and his fellows had to run for their lives as a result where they allegedly left a light delivery vehicle behind.
It is said that the man, whose identity is unknown at this stage, was then caught and severely assaulted as well as torched next to the said vehicle which also caught fire in the process.
Surprisingly, there is up to so far no case of robbery that was registered with the police in relation to the man killed. Hence, the Provincial Commissioner of the SAPS in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant General Semakaleng Daphney Manamela was disturbed by this incident. The General made a clarion call for members of the public to report criminal activities to the authorities rather than taking the law into their own hands which in turn amounts to committing a crime. “The society should understand that it can never be right to correct a wrong by another wrong.
Those who are responsible for this, should be brought to book and face the full might of the law,” said Lieutenant General Semakaleng Daphney Manamela.
