West Rand murders lead to suspected mob justice
After two murders were reported in the Soul City area in Kagiso, on the West Rand, this past weekend, residents of an informal settlement near West Village decided to take the law into their own hands.
It is alleged the first murder took place on Friday evening, May 29. A man allegedly stabbed and killed a 30-year-old Lesotho national at a local tavern. The victim was rushed to Leratong Hospital, where he died shortly after arrival, Krugersdorp News reported.
“The suspect in this case is still at large,” Randfontein police spokesperson Captain Appel Ernst said.
The second murder was reported at Kagiso Police Station two days later on May 31. This prompted residents of Soul City to carry out the alleged mob justice.
“It is alleged that the residents of the Soul City area went to the residence of a 30-year-old male, where he allegedly became the victim of mob justice,” Ernst said.
The victim was allegedly beaten to death with sticks, stones and concrete blocks. His shack was set alight and burned to the ground. It is believed the mob justice was possibly being linked to the first murder.
“The investigation receives priority, and the investigating team will leave no stone unturned to bring the culprits to book,” Ernst added.
Brigadier Henry Mollegai, the station commander, assured Kagiso residents the investigation was top priority and condemned the killings.
Research by the Institute of Security Studies found that mob justice served as an occasion for victims, and the communities with which they were linked, to “proclaim the extent of their suffering and seek punitive redress”.
The study by Dr Gail Super from the Institute for Criminology at the University of Cape Town found that mob justice occurred when community members united against an outsider, and become bonded for an intense moment in a way that masks the problems that tear the community apart.
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– Caxton News Service
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