Getting together to solve common problems is the African way. The rise of vigilante group Mapogo a Matamaga is rooted in this tradition, reports Evidence wa ka Ngobeni
The reception afforded him by his loyal, sjambok-wielding followers would have made a royal welcome seem a gloomy affair. Horns started blaring hours before his arrival. The waiting mass danced to the tunes of a local band and others drank African beer while a heavily armed group of security officers surrounded the open field at Jane Furse where his private helicopter was to land.
They sang praises and applauded him as he stepped out of his lavish metallic-blue helicopter. Dressed in his organisation’s trademark gold-trimmed blazer, he waved to his followers as a white pilot handed him over to his pistol-toting henchmen.
His charcoal BMW sedan, with tinted windows, set a slow pace as the crowd, some sporting T-shirts proclaiming their membership of the organisation, escorted him to a sunshade tent at his shopping complex.
At a tent decorated with silky white linen and glossy ribbons, his followers were ordered to kneel as he proceeded to take his seat before the organisation’s annual function could begin.
Exempted from kneeling were local chiefs, church ministers and taxi bosses.
But they too came to demonstrate their loyalty to him on his organisation’s fifth anniversary.
His name is Monhle Magolego. He is the head of South Africa’s largest vigilante group, Mapogo a Matamaga, which believes in “medicine” for suspected criminals, including sjambokking them.
Magolego is a resident of Glen Cowie, a tiny village near Pietersburg, and lives in two plush houses in the Northern Province. He has been a telephone operator and a clerk and is now a successful businessman.
At the age of 45 he is one of South Africa’s most feared individuals. His organisation is a proud proponent of capital punishment.
As a businessman he owns a hotel, two shopping complexes and a butchery Magolego often came face to face with crime. His shops were often broken into and he suffered the loss of goods worth many thousands of rands. Businessmen he knew were robbed and sometimes killed by criminals.
“The police did nothing to change the situation,” Magolego says.
The inaction sparked his resolve to form the vigilante group.
His mobile phone rings continuously, allowing for a glimpse into his life.
“Hoe gaan dit? [How are you?]” is his most common retort. His command of Afrikaans helps me understand why his organisation attracted thousands of Afrikaner farmers in the Northern Province and North West.
The name Mapogo a Matamaga is taken from a Sotho proverb which says that when a leopard is confronted by a tiger it turns into a tiger itself. The group claims its membership has grown from less than 100 in 1996 to about 50 000.
It is a rare for a week to go by without one of Mapogo’s 100 branches beating up a suspected criminal.
The public floggings are carried out with large sjamboks and are supposed to be confined to the suspect’s buttocks. But more than 20 people have died at the hands of Mapogo floggers over the past five years. Other suspected criminals were saved by the grace of God after being subjected to Mapogo “medicine”.
In 1999, for example, Mapogo members allegedly threw two suspected thieves into a crocodile-infested river, before torturing, beating and incarcerating them. The Mapogo members are facing assault charges and are out on bail.
But a conviction seems unlikely. Most Mapogo members, including Magolego himself, have faced similar charges. They walked free after state witness failed to arrive in court.
The police, claiming Mapogo members intimidated the witnesses, are now working round the clock to reopen the charges. But generally Mapogo members seem to go about their activities unhindered.
The group now has branches in eight of the country’s provinces and is set to go national with the launch of a branch in the Western Cape. It is an alarming indication of the collapse of the criminal justice system throughout the country.
“Mapogo has ploughed its seeds throughout the country,” Magolego says.
The group also has a formal security company, A Matamaga Security Services, which is registered with the Security Officers’ Board, the statutory regulatory body of the industry.
“Mapogo will not stop until the police come up with another method of dealing with crime. Mapogo believes that its method of giving the necessary medicine to criminals is working. The police are handling criminals with kid gloves,” he said.
His words were met with rounds of applause from his members.
“There is no person like Magolego. He is number one, no matter what his enemies say. He is our leader and we support him,” a senior Mapogo member commented.
“I love Mapogo and I am a Lepogo for life. Long live, Mapogo, long live,” said another member.
The master of ceremonies asked a local pastor to pray before they started their programme.
“We, the loyal members of Mapogo, believe in God and our work is not against the Bible. The Bible says that if we spare the rod we spoil the child,” he said, adding that it was not a surprise his organisation had attracted small and big businesses.
Magolego said this was due to the failure of the police to do their job. Members of the police, dispatched to monitor Mapogo’s celebration, applauded when Magolego directed his speech at them.
“Those policemen out there have told me that they are here at our celebration as members of Mapogo. They have assured us that if someone steals something here they will let Mapogo arrest the culprit,” he said.
Since its formation Mapogo has not had good relations with the police. Meetings between representatives of the Northern Province Department of Safety and Security and Mapogo leaders have failed to resolve the matter.
The government has decided against dialogue with the group. Last year the African National Congress issued an ultimatum ordering its members to resign from Mapogo. The order came after it emerged that schools, clinics and regional government offices in Tzaneen, near Pietersburg, had paid “protection levies” to Mapogo in an attempt to combat theft and vandalism.
The government said public servants should distance themselves from the vigilante group and vowed that Mapogo would be suppressed in no time.
However, the governments of provinces where Mapogo operates have made no concerted effort to clamp down on the organisation’s activities, apart from occasionally charging its members with assault and attempted murder.
In the Northern Province police work against Mapogo appears to have been hampered by the closure of the Mapogo police unit. The unit was tasked with the investigation of all cases related to Mapogo.
According to the South African Police Service head of serious crimes unit in the Northern Province, Nelson Mabotsa, cases against Mapogo members are now dealt with at police station level.
Mabotsa, who believes that it is not easy to prosecute Mapogo members because of the intimidation of witnesses, said he has worked out a new strategy to deal with the vigilantes.
“We have to work closely with the justice department to ensure that the cases against Mapogo members are pushed through speedily to avoid a situation where witnesses are intimidated. If the cases take long witnesses are likely to withdraw due to intimidation by Mapogo members,” he said.
“We need to work out new ways to deal with Mapogo,” Mabotsa said.
At the function Magolego assured his loyal followers that his organisation “has defeated all forces against it”. He said he was willing to have talks with the government.
But, he said, “they seem to be afraid to chat with me. I have told them of my willingness to talk to them, but they keep avoiding the matter.”
Magolego told his followers that senior Mapogo members who had tried to oust him last year had failed.
The senior Mapogo members in question had accused Magolego of corruption and of behaving like a “dictator”. They charged that the unlawful beating of suspected criminals by the group has discredited the crime-busting organisation and seriously damaged its relationship with the police and the government.
They filed an interdict in the Pretoria High Court preventing Magolego from using the group’s offices.
“They have failed to accomplish their mission,” Magolego told his followers. He said the Magogo dissidents have since established their own “ineffective” anti-crime organisation called the Sekhukhuni se Bonaa ke Sebataladi (If you do things while you think you are hiding, be warned that somebody is watching you).
Unlike Mapogo, the new group, staffed by former executive members of Mapogo, claims it does not believe in punishing suspected criminals.
Magolego used his speech at the function to vilify the Sekhukhuni group, which he said has a long way to go before catching up with his organisation.
He said the Sekhukhuni group “was used by the Northern Province safety and security department to destroy Mapogo”.
He said his organisation remains intact despite repeated attacks from the government over the past five years.
“All those people at safety and security in the Northern Province who were always attacking us, they are gone. They have been fired and I am still here,” he said.
Mapogo does not believe in handing over suspected criminals to the police before they receive the “medicine”.
After “arresting” suspected criminals Mapogo metes out their “medicine” to “cure them of their bad ways”.
Government officials have publicly stated that Mapogo members are being used by right-wing forces to undermine the country’s police and judicial systems.
The group has in the past three years registered thousands of gun-wielding farmers in the Northern Province, and in the Afrikanerweerstandsbeweging heartland of Ventersdorp.
However, it is not clear why Mapogo’s paid-up white members do not attend the group’s functions. There was only one white member at Mapogo’s “crisis meeting” in Lebowakgomo near Pietersburg this year.
At the Jane Furse function only two white members attended. One of them, a handsome young man, appeared to be passionate about his Mapogo membership. The other, an older family-type man, seemed uncomfortable despite being introduced as one of the “important guests”.
It was not difficult to tell that the young white man in designer jeans was passionate about Mapogo. Dressed in his Mapogo cap and T-shirt adorned with a close-up picture of Magolego’s stern face, he participated actively in Mapogo’s activities.
He spent the better part of the day holding a placard decorated with a Mapogo logo. He did not, however, get a chance to speak to the crowd. Most of those who were given the chance to speak were staunch members of the vigilante group including representatives of taxi associations, churches and traditional authorities.
Most of them bragged about the “successes” and the “important role” of the vigilante group. One of the local chiefs declared: “I am Lepogo for life.” He dedicated a poem to the vigilante group.
Other speakers discouraged the use of the word “vigilante” when referring to Mapogo. Mapogo, they said, is an anti-crime orginisation. This was echoed by Magolego.
In fact, Magolego said, his “anti-crime” group was mobilising other “anti-crime” organisations in the country.
“We will be having a summit of all anti-crime organisations in the future. We believe that we should work together as anti-crime organisations to deal with crime,” he said.
Magolego declared that his group was not a “political party”, despite having campaigned for the United Democratic Movement in the Northern Province during the 1999 election.
“This organisation is for the Africans. It is not a political party. We are a community-based organisation which promotes Africanism. That is why chiefs are automatically members of Mapogo,” he said.
“Mapogo will not cease to exist in this country. The president [Thabo Mbeki] says there is a better life for all in South Africa. We believe that there is no better life here. Instead there is a bitter life for all,” Magolego said.
Magolego blamed the Northern Province government for the difficulties experienced by his group in the past few years.
“I want to talk to them. They do not want that. What are they afraid of? Are they afraid because they are not competent enough to discuss with me?” he asked, adding that his doors were open for anyone who wanted dialogue.
But, he warned, his organisation will not tolerate “disinformation campaigns and attacks. I want to tell all those who have painted Mapogo as a bad organisation and discourage people from joining that they are criminals themselves,” he said.
“They want Mapogo to fade away so that they can do their crimes easily. I want to tell you that we are not going anywhere. From today onwards we will work even harder to punish criminals.”
Magolego said Mapogo members were happy with their current leaders and enjoyed being members. This was evident at the Jane Furse function where members sang Mapogo songs: “Have you ever seen a criminal with rights? Criminals lose their rights when they commit crime,” they sang.
“Today we have tied our dogs, our ‘police’ are here to celebrate. But criminals be warned, Mapogo is still around,” they bragged.
A local chief asked to make a speech at the function said that “Mapogo have a good medicine, which is healing the nation. Without the medicine our nation will die of this disease called crime.”
He said Mapogo’s recent launch of a professional security firm was a sign of “a major progress and the good work done by Mr Magolego”.
The vigilante group started the security firm in 1999 in a bid to go mainstream. Unlike the main organisation, the Mapogo a Matamaga Security Services does not sjambok suspects.
The company boasts armed-response vehicles sporting the head of a tiger and Mapogo’s motto. The security company has attracted more than 100 clients since it was formed.
The company, says Magolego, operates like any other security company.
The Mapogo security guards offer bodyguards, security to banks, big industries and residential areas. Members of the company guard Magolego during public appearances.
They will accompany him on September 3 when he travels to Cape Town to form a new branch there.
“The people of Cape Town have told us to come there quickly as they are dying. We have promised them that we will come and clean up that town. We wipe out criminal elements as soon as we are settled there,” Magolego said.
“Criminals are very much aware of our medicine,” he said. In Cape Town, Magolego said, “criminals are starting to tremble, they know we are coming and that we are not cowards. They are scared of us.”
Mapogo’s popularity is not difficult to see. Most people said criminals fear the wrath of the vigilante group more than the police.
“People fear Mapogo because they hear horrifying stories of attacks by Mapogo against suspected criminals,” says Lebowakgomo resident Connie Mooka.
Mooka, who runs a spaza shop, said she first heard of the group in 1997 after Mapogo members severely assaulted her neighbour’s son. They accused him of stealing chicken from a local shop.
“They stripped him naked and told him to walk around the township. They then tied him behind a white bakkie with a thick rope and drove around while he was running behind the car. He was tired and he fell. He sustained serious injuries after the attack,” Mooka said.
Mooka, who believes, however, that the presence of Mapogo in her area has reduced crime, said Mapogo members should not sjambok suspected criminals.
“If they suspect someone of crime they should not beat them up. They must do things properly, because if they do not they will kill innocent children.”
Mooka said she was not surprised to learn that a number of Mapogo members are now facing assault and murder charges.
“I want to join them but I hate the sjambokking part. But if they change their style I might consider joining them.”
Membership fees for the vigilante group range between R100 for individuals and R10 000 for big businesses.
Mapogo members are encouraged to buy Mapogo signs (R50 each) and stickers (R20), all of which are adorned with the head of a tiger. After signing up Mapogo members are given the cellphone numbers of Mapogo branch heads, whom they can dial when they have a problem.
Most of the branch heads have pistols and foot soldiers. The foot soldiers, who work part-time, are always on standby to respond to calls from registered members. They go to the scene and investigate until a suspected criminal is found.
Mapogo members use sjamboks and public floggings to get to “the truth”.
Registered members are not obliged to whip suspects themselves.