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Tangeni Amupadhi
JULIA BOPAPE was the mother of an alleged=20 criminal. Last week a crowd of 4 000 in=20 Mamelodi, Pretoria, stoned her to death for=20 the deeds of her son, Handsome Bopape.
She was killed at a meeting during which=20 the community accused her of encouraging=20 her son to commit crimes, and of paying his=20 bail.=20
Bopape is among the latest victims of an=20 increasing trend toward mob rule. South=20 Africans fed up with poor policing and the=20 slow pace of justice are turning in greater=20 numbers to vigilantism in an attempt to=20 stop spiralling crime.
Police say there has been an increase in=20 vigilantism country-wide, though most=20 incidents are impromptu responses by small=20 communities, rather than the deliberate=20 acts of formal organisations.
Director Reg Crewe of the Detective Service=20 said there “are no statistics to indicate=20 the extent of the problem, but intances of=20 mob justice are really a cause for=20 concern”.
Crewe said sometimes people are frustrated=20 by poor police work, but often “communities=20 don’t understand how the system works, they=20 want instant justice, and they are not=20 prepared to wait”.
Three incidents were reported in=20 Johannesburg and Pretoria this week, while=20 in the Northern Province authorities know=20 of four groups formed to combat crime.
Gauteng police spokesman Azwinndini=20 Nengovhela said they are an indication that=20 “people are developing this kind of=20 [vigilante] tendency”.
Vigilante activities in KwaZulu-Natal are=20 being carried out “spontaneously”, not by=20 organisations, said police director Bala=20 Naidoo.
In the Western Cape, People Against=20 Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) is the only=20 formal vigilante group, but police=20 representative John Sterrenberg did not=20 rule out the existence of similar groups.
Crewe said: “Unlike Pagad, other groups=20 have not declared themselves publicly.”
Free State, Mpumalanga and the Northern=20 Cape are the only provinces where mob=20 justice, once carried out on political=20 grounds in the 1980s, has stopped or=20 decreased considerably.
Community and business groups say they=20 understand the increase in street justice,=20 but condemn “extreme measures”.
Said Eric Tocknell, managing director of=20 Business Against Crime: “The community is=20 sending out a clear message that they are=20 frustrated by the increasing crime rate,=20 and see mob justice as the only way to=20 solve the problem.”
Tocknell said people should realise crime- fighting is not only the responsibility of=20 the police, and that the communities, the=20 police and business should form=20 partnerships.
Penrose Ntloti, secretary general of the=20 South African National Civics Organisation=20 (Sanco) said it does not support vigilante=20 groups because “some people may have hidden=20 agendas”.