Evidence wa ka Ngobeni, Pule waga Mabe and Ntuthuko Maphumulo Hours after William Masuku defied a directive from a vigilante group his Mamelodi home was attacked and his family held hostage at gunpoint for almost the whole night by members of the kangaroo court. A day before the incident Masuku was undecided whether to comply with summons issued to him by the Tsakene Section Committee, a community policing forum turned vigilante group, after scores of people in the Mamelodi area were brutally assaulted for failing to appear before a kangaroo court. Masuku’s case illustrates a breakdown of law and order in which the police and the courts are gradually being replaced by self- appointed vigilantes who play jury and executioner at the same time. Mamelodi Community Policing Forum representative Percy Buda said people who have reported crime to police are mostly intimidated and, in some cases, even assaulted or murdered. “Some police investigating the charges make little effort to protect complainants or witnesses as some are benefiting from the crime.” Intimidation usually derails the cases before they get to court, as complainants drop charges or witnesses back off, he said. Buda said most of the investigating officers at Mamelodi police station are inexperienced and also fear for their lives after being threatened and intimidated by criminals and kangaroo court members. The situation at the police station has angered the government, and Minister of Safety and Security Steve Tshwete and his Gauteng counterpart, Nomvula Mokonyane, have appointed a special task team in a bid to restore law and order in the area. Tshwete, who after his surprise visit to the police station described it as a “pigsty”, has been largely concerned about the alleged failure on the part of the Mamelodi police to enforce law and order in the township. Vigilante groups have moved into the vacuum and more than 22 kangaroo courts are currently operating in the area. “Almost every section in Mamelodi has one or two vigilante groups,” Buda said. He said the township’s taxi association has also formed its own vigilante group. Members of different kangaroo courts meet once a month to conduct a raid across the township. “These kangaroo courts assault people during their illegal raids because they know they won’t be arrested,” Buda said. The kangaroo courts hand out fines ranging from R20 to R30 000 against “offenders”. “If you fail to pay, you know that you will be in trouble and you will get little help from the police,” he said. “I was lucky to have survived that night,” Masuku said. His sentiments are echoed by Buda. As Buda put it: some victims of vigilante groups in Mamelodi did not live to tell the tale of street justice dispensed by kangaroo courts. Buda claims that more than 10 people have died in the hands of gun-toting and sjambok-wielding vigilantes in the past year. “People are dying silently in Mamelodi,” he said. Despite the gruesome killings no member of the kangaroo courts has been arrested and vigilante groups in the Mamelodi area continue to mushroom unabated. Buda said most residents in Mamelodi now live in fear and would not dare lodge a complaint against crimi-nals and kangaroo courts.
Mamelodi police station representative Johannes Maheso said dealing with vigilantes in the area is not easy as witnesses are afraid to help the police because of intimidation. Tshwete has ordered the special task team to reopen uncompleted cases in the police station and to crack down on vigilante crimes. The head of the task team, Senior Superintendent Rudie van Olst, said his team will have to restore public faith in the police in order to crack down on vigilantes. The task team has started to investigate and collect information relating to outstanding murder and assault cases against vigilante group members. The team has reopened more than 140 cases of murder and intimidation against members of vigilante groups. Van Olst believes “the high rate of intimidation in Mamelodi is making proper policing in the area very difficult”. His four senior detectives will need community help to crack down on policemen alleged to be working with criminals. Police officials close to the investigation say there appears to be evidence of some police threatening complainants and witnesses, and even forging their statements and signatures. Maheso said about 14 police officers were arrested and some suspended last year for corruption and misconduct. According to police sources, the suspended policemen allegedly helped criminals, destroyed evidence and sometimes accepted bribes. The police say a substantial number of cases against criminals and members of the kangaroo courts have collapsed because police investigators lost witnesses and vital evidence. “This whole thing makes the community think that kangaroo court members are untouchables and that they can do as they wish,” Buda said.