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Tangeni Amupadhi
JULIA BOPAPE was the mother of an alleged criminal. Last week a crowd of 4 000 in Mamelodi, Pretoria, stoned her to death for the deeds of her son, Handsome Bopape.
She was killed at a meeting during which the community accused her of encouraging her son to commit crimes, and of paying his bail.
Bopape is among the latest victims of an increasing trend toward mob rule. South Africans fed up with poor policing and the slow pace of justice are turning in greater numbers to vigilantism in an attempt to stop spiralling crime.
Police say there has been an increase in vigilantism country-wide, though most incidents are impromptu responses by small communities, rather than the deliberate acts of formal organisations.
Director Reg Crewe of the Detective Service said there “are no statistics to indicate the extent of the problem, but intances of mob justice are really a cause for concern”.
Crewe said sometimes people are frustrated by poor police work, but often “communities don’t understand how the system works, they want instant justice, and they are not prepared to wait”.
Three incidents were reported in Johannesburg and Pretoria this week, while in the Northern Province authorities know of four groups formed to combat crime.
Gauteng police spokesman Azwinndini Nengovhela said they are an indication that “people are developing this kind of [vigilante] tendency”.
Vigilante activities in KwaZulu-Natal are being carried out “spontaneously”, not by organisations, said police director Bala Naidoo.
In the Western Cape, People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) is the only formal vigilante group, but police representative John Sterrenberg did not rule out the existence of similar groups.
Crewe said: “Unlike Pagad, other groups have not declared themselves publicly.”
Free State, Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape are the only provinces where mob justice, once carried out on political grounds in the 1980s, has stopped or decreased considerably.
Community and business groups say they understand the increase in street justice, but condemn “extreme measures”.
Said Eric Tocknell, managing director of Business Against Crime: “The community is sending out a clear message that they are frustrated by the increasing crime rate, and see mob justice as the only way to solve the problem.”
Tocknell said people should realise crime- fighting is not only the responsibility of the police, and that the communities, the police and business should form partnerships.
Penrose Ntloti, secretary general of the South African National Civics Organisation (Sanco) said it does not support vigilante groups because “some people may have hidden agendas”.