When mobs rule

Limpopo is breeding ground for some of the most horrific acts against humanity and of all the disconcerting contact crimes faced by the Police in the province, vigilantism has almost unnoticed catapulted to the top of the highest ranking headaches that had to be policed or reacted to the past half a decade.
Mob rule in its various forms continues to pose huge risk to human life, has an effect on law enforcement resources and the justice system, the economy as well as already overburdened taxpayers when destroyed infrastructure requires repairs in the wake of angry community members who “hit them where it hurts most” when protest action goes wrong.
It is averaged that matters have taken a turn for the worst in Limpopo the past five years with incidents stemming from mob justice or vigilantism having drastically escalated, conceded Provincial Police Communications Head Motlafela Mojapelo in an interview with Polokwane Observer.
The violence that manifested in mob incidents was gruesome and the majority of victims lost their lives in attacks often perpetrated with pangas, machetes, spades, stones or when being set alight before burning beyond recognition, Mojapelo said.
It was learnt that the scenario has contributed to the crime ranking in top position on the priorities’ list of the provincial Police as members of the community increasingly take the law into their own hands by dishing out justice to a suspect(s) when caught red-handed in the commission of a crime or seen to be terrorising a community, display xenophobic hatred towards foreigners or go over to looting of and damage to property during service delivery-related marches or protests.
Questioned about the fact that mob rule in its various forms still didn’t get listed separately and got masked by other crimes when analysing official statistics, he agreed that going forward it would have to be dealt with separately.
Saying that it was difficult to police mob activity and that arrest was at times used as deterrent to quell a situation, Mojapelo simultaneously reiterated that the concept of community policing had to be enhanced. Communities had to be urged to assist the Police in fighting crime, not instigate lawlessness, he added.
Communities in addition had to learn that there were other ways to meet their demands without resorting to violence, he said with regards to violent protest action or alternative situations where community members acted out of impatience with the system. He highlighted the difference between a citizen’s arrest that could be effected prior to the arrival of the Police when a crime was being committed in a person’s presence as opposed to it being against the law to go in search of persons suspected of a crime. It was also not the role of the Police to punish criminals but to bring them to book and only courts of law could make a determination on a person’s guilt or innocence, he added. Mojapelo appealed to communities to refrain from taking the law into their own hands and instead allow due processes to be followed.
Crowds are considered dangerously unpredictable in volatile conditions and easily get swept away by emotions that run high in such large gatherings. At such times the role liquor and drugs play in substance-induced actions needs to be kept in mind when having to police a crowd, it was pointed out by Ntsandeni Tinyani who is head of the Police’s Operational Response Service component in Limpopo. The Public Order Policing Unit under his command reacted in situations of unrest or uproar and would at all times endeavour to avoid a clash with community members, he indicated. They would at first attempt opening up a line of engagement with the parties on the ground before opting for water canons, tear smoke, stun grenades, rubber bullets and then arrest – necessarily in that order. Live ammunition is never an option in such instances, it was learnt. Often his members arrived on scenes just in time to rescue victims from harrowing ordeals, he further remarked.
The current hotspots where mob rule is most prevalent across the province were earlier singled out by Mojapelo as Seshego, Mahwelereng and Thohoyandou clusters. Tinyani expanded on the list by adding Thoomo, Malamulele, Giyani, Blinkwater, Tshakuma, Siloam, Mashao, a location in the Louis Trichardt area, Lephalale, Burgersfort, Lebowakgomo, Bela-Bela, Northam, Elandskraal, Zebediela and Mookgophong.
In conclusion Tinyani highlighted the fact that participants in instances of mob rule in Limpopo are generally men and women varying between 15 and 40 years in age while elements seen to be terrorising communities average 15 to 30 years.
Often community members acquainted with the victims get swept along by a murderous tidal wave and go over to the killing act, be it in a case of mob justice seeking out a suspect(s) in revenge of an incident, for targeting the community or xenophobic attack against foreigners. A foreigner from an African country who has lived in South Africa since 2007 and been residing in Polokwane the past more than four years alluded to the fear of xenophobic attack when speaking on condition of anonymity. He has never fallen victim to such crimes but had friends in the city and elsewhere who was attacked during spates of past incidents.
News of attacks distributed via social media usually caught them by surprise and compelled them to lock themselves up, he said.He explained that the risk of attack in informal settlements had necessitated him to move to the safety of a city suburb.
He expressed the opinion that xenophobia has tainted South Africa’s reputation internationally and said it prevented people from visiting.
Recalling his own eager participation in a project for donations to help the children of Soweto during apartheid while he was still at primary school, he remarked that it was not the type of thank you one would expect from South Africans. “The stuff they do to us I can’t do to my brother.”
The fear of a blood-hungry group of individuals seemingly not in possession of their senses during an attack remains indescribable. One of two victims of a mob attack that occurred in Polokwane more than two years ago recounted having to come to terms with being helpless against a merciless crowd that used the cover of acting against suspicious foreign elements in the community to commit looting that day. The fear of large gatherings would always remain a trigger when in public places, she concluded. The other victim chose not to remember the details of what he referred to as a scary encounter.
Ethical Foundation for Leadership Excellence Chairman Mautji Pataki argued that the term mob justice was incorrect as justice was about fairness, saying that in ethics an act was either wrong or right and that the distinction was made that there were certain actions that were universally unacceptable morally. Pataki expressed the opinion that the situation arising from mob rule has got nothing to do with fairness, but instead had to do with vengeance where people reacted out of anger to address a particular misdemeanour or criminal activity.
“It is very wrong in a society such as ours – where there are institutions in place that have got to do with the protection of society – for us to take the law into our hands. Our Constitution is based on the rule of law which means everyone must have an opportunity to explain themselves if they have acted in a manner that is unacceptable to society.
“In this mob thing (situation) there is no time to explain yourself. There is only time to be condemned and be killed in extreme cases or get injured. We are a society that must take seriously the question of teaching people how to live together in peace and this is not to condone wrongdoing by people who are out to torment society. People who are tormenting society are as equally wrong as people trying who try and solve their criminal activities.”
By addressing the issue of a young generation growing up in a violent society, he quoted Martin Luther King Jr when talking to violence breeding more violence. If people got exposed to violence they grew up thinking violence was something to be decorated, which is what the coming generation would do, he elaborated. “They would become heartless, they would lose conscience and they would lose respect for life as a sacred gift and in their adult life they would continue to behave violently because violence would have formed them and psychologically and mentally they would have come to believe that violence is something to admire, to adore, to decorate, to appreciate and praise and it cannot be true.” He conceded that the consequence would be the loss of a generation of people who believed that violence was the right way to go.
The opposite of violence, hate and anything that got the South African nation to where it was now had to be taught, he said and reckoned it was possible but added that there was much work to be done. In the same vein he emphasised the importance of leadership and of drilling leaders in ethics and moral conduct.
He concluded with a call for a peaceful way of settling differences and an appeal and a plea to communities to give reason and discussions an opportunity and to promote conversation until they find one another. “In South African language, let’s give negotiation a room.”

Story: YOLANDE NEL
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