eMBALENHLE – A 52-year-old taxi operator has frequently tried to intervene when people are being savagely beaten by mobs near the Kusasalethu Comprehensive School.
He said he often is able to save a life, but he also sometimes fail to prevent a brutal death like the one that took place at the school premises on Wednesday morning, 27 August.
Two men allegedly grabbed the handbag of a 30-year-old woman in a field near the school and were chased by residents.
They ran to abandoned buildings on the school’s premises where they climbed into a ceiling, but pupils managed to get them down and beat the men until the police arrived.
The men died in the Evander Hospital later in the afternoon and nobody has been arrested yet at time of going to press.
“People have lost trust in the police.
“Mob justice takes place when people do not trust the police,” said the father of three.
He said another man was injured by vigilantes near the school for stealing a woman’s handbag who was coming from the shopping complex.
“People are tired of crime.
“You just have to shout ‘tsotsi’ and everybody comes running to deal with him.
“It is as easy as that.”
While crime affects everyone, it is particularly bad in the extensions with poor infrastructure.
It has continued to flourish and the fear felt by residents is increasingly turning into frustration, anger and fear.
Residents said most of the crimes are committed by nyaope addicts.
“Our neighbours are robbed, beaten, raped and murdered by these addicts.
“We cannot walk to communal toilets or use public transport to get to and from work without fear of falling victim to crime.
“When crimes happen and we report them, the police often arrive too late.
“If a case makes it to court, it can drag on for years or be thrown out because of bad investigations,” said a former member of Sector Crime Forum.
This situation frustrates residents who then take the law into their own hands.
