Picture: iStock
A video of a man being burnt alive in an alleged mob justice attack in Hillbrow has divided South Africans on social media. According to Crime Air Network on Twitter, the man allegedly stabbed someone and the community retaliated by burning him alive on Monday.
In the video, the man is seen on fire, though the footage does not show who set him alight. The man tries to put out the fire with his hands before lying on the ground in what looks like an acceptance of defeat, while a dog tries to help him to no avail. All this happens as the crowd watches and does nothing to help him.
While some on social media commended the community for dealing with criminality themselves, others argued there was no excuse for the community to take the law into their own hands.
“So people don’t and will never understand how it’s like residing in a community where @SAPoliceService doesn’t have the appetite to fight crime, where all the thugs are known by the @SAPoliceService but failing to arrest them or arrest them to release them the next day to continue,” said Bongani K Mahlangu, while @4real said: “Why are we always blaming our actions on everything/everyone else but ourselves? You cannot blame anyone/entity for setting that man alight. It was the choice of a person/community to do that.”
Watch the video below:
These were some of the reactions on the video:
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