Seven attacked during mob justice in several Mpumalanga communities

An attack on a man at Shoprite on October 25 in Lydenburg, allegedly by community members, has been condemned by police.

The man was allegedly involved in card cloning, and he allegedly stole several thousand rand from a Shoprite client when they withdrew money from the automatic teller machine. The man died of his injuries later the same day.

A total of seven people have been attacked by mobs in separate cases in the Mjejane community near Komatipoort, Marite in Bushbuckridge, and Lydenburg last week.

“The police attended the scene and found that the alleged victim was powerless. No one came forward to give the information as to why he was beaten. An ambulance was summoned to assist the alleged beaten victim and the victim was taken to Lydenburg Hospital for medical treatment.

“Later the police find that the victim was assaulted because he was scamming clients at a Standard Bank ATM at Shoprite. He was assaulted by community members. Then they took him to the taxi rank where the assault and beating continued,” said Sergeant Cave Dilebo, spokesperson of the Lydenburg police.