Law enforcement goes private in a recent spate of violent acts against alleged criminals, reports Wiseman Khuzwayo
IN Debe Nek, just outside King William’s Town, an irate mob last month savagely killed a man awaiting trial for murder and rape. They cut off his arms, crushed his skull and tore out his brain.
The mob had earlier marched on the local police station to complain about the man’s release. They left after police explained that he was only released on bail, but later called him to a meeting, where he was tried and sentenced to death.
Last week, in Duduza on the East Rand, two men at a taxi rank were killed by being doused with petrol and set on fire by taxi drivers who allegedly identified them as people who specialised in stealing taxis.
And in Butterworth, a man was stoned and set alight after property — allegedly stolen — worth at least R60 000 was found in his house.
Last month again, in Fochville, near Westonaria in the Western Transvaal, two alleged hijackers were badly beaten by taxi drivers and later handed over to the police.
The drivers claimed the men were taxi thieves who were known to the police but never arrested. The drivers also complained that other taxi thieves who had been arrested had been released without being charged.
Last Saturday, during a march by mainly Muslims in the West Rand coloured townships against drug trafficking, one of the demonstrators was reported as shouting: “We want action … rough justice. Immediate execution is what we want. No negotiations. No discussions.”
To many people, the above incidents will seem like deja vu — the old apartheid days when revolutionary justice was the order of the day. People were tried and sentenced by kangaroo or people’s courts, and harsh and sometimes barbaric punishment swiftly followed. But the targets of this new rough justice are no “sell outs” or impimpis — they are alleged criminals.
Police spokesmen in areas where two of the incidents took place say kangaroo courts and instances of summary justice in their regions are definitely on the rise.
Lloyd Vogelman, director of the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation at Wits University, says the above incidents are the clearest message that there is still a lack of confidence in the police, magistrates and the judiciary.
“When there is such a lack of confidence, law enforcement becomes privatised. You have vigilantes, who will take the law into their own hands. Where people feel they have been aggrieved, violence has become the primary response to deal with their frustration. Violence has become ensconced in the South African consciousness.”
Vogelman says rough justice is more likely to be meted out against those who are known criminals in the community. People tend to lack the incentive to take alleged criminals to the police if they believe nothing will happen to them. “Once these people have been arrested, the society expects them not only to be prosecuted but also to be convicted,” adds Vogelman.
However, in many instances, like that of King William’s Town, it is not the police who grant bail to a suspect but the courts. The Criminal Procedure Act is loaded in favour of bail for the accused unless exceptional circumstances can be shown. Access to bail has been further reinforced by the Bill of Rights.
Vogelman advises caution on the interpretation of this right.
“It is up to the government, magistrates and judges to define clearly who should go out on bail. When a person who is perceived by the community as a known criminal is granted bail, people feel that whoever took that decision is not sensitive to their feelings.
“The right to bail may pose a threat to other individual human rights. It is therefore up to the magistrate or judge to weigh the danger posed to the community against the rights of a suspect. In fact, courts at the moment seem to be very lax in granting bail.”
Another factor to be considered, says Vogelman, is whether the police can in fact enforce the bail conditions which have been imposed.
“There have been instances where the accused has gone on to commit further offences. The accused may further attack the victim, which may then lead to the undermining of the potential to report crime. This in turn undermines the effectiveness of the police.
Vogelman’s sentiments are echoed by Penrose Ntlonti, general secretary of the South African National Civic Organisation. He says what makes people angry is that suspects are arrested and within hours or days are back within the community.
“This is what used to happen in the past. While some of the things cannot be seen as the repetition of the apartheid days, there is very little change as far as people on the ground are concerned,” he says.
East Rand police spokesman Colonel Eugene Opperman draws a difference between kangaroo courts and “jungle” justice, with the latter being “part of the uncivilised law of justice. Here, the people don’t want to sit in a court and listen to the evidence.”
With a kangaroo court, he says, there is at least a leader with a room somewhere in the township who presides over the court. “But here, the people who give out the punishment have no authority to do so. It’s all criminal.
“It’s the use of brutality, both physical and mental and people won’t come forward when we investigate. We will have to get the community normalised again and to co- operate if we are going to stamp out such conduct,” he says.