POLOKWANE – “We will not tolerate people coming into our neighbourhood and stealing from us,” outraged residents from Ext 76 asserted.

Their anger was fueled by several recent cable thefts in the area that resulted in some residents being without electricity for weeks until the stolen cables were replaced.

In the early hours of last Monday morning, these angry residents directed their anger on three suspicious-looking men who were seen in Ext 76. The men were chased after by the residents and one of the three men was caught.

The residents called for help from others using the community whistle, which is used to gather the community at one point in case of an emergency.

“We needed to teach him a lesson. People cannot come here and take what does not belong to them”

“The man had a bag with him and when the bag was opened, we found that there were electric cables in the bag as well as explosives. The people interrogated the man about the origin of the cables and the names of his accomplices, but the man refused to talk,” a resident said.

The resident added that an assault on the man started soon afterwards.

“We needed to teach him a lesson. People cannot come here and take what does not belong to them. There is no point calling the police, because the police arrest these thieves, take them to court and they are released the next day, coming back to steal from us again. No, we deal with them ourselves when we catch them and when we are done with them, we give them to the police,” another resident said.

Another resident said the people only stopped beating the man when he was lying still in a pool of his own blood. “Someone called the police, and when the police arrived they called the ambulance,” the resident said.

WO Mothemane Malefo, Seshego police spokesperson, confirmed a murder investigation.

“Cable theft is a problem in our policing area, and there have been quite a number of complaints in Ext 76 and 73, and parts of Luthuli Park. As an intervention we have intensified our patrols at night,” Malefo said.

Malefo appealed to people not to take the law into their own hands.

“It is important that the community does not take the law into their own hands. Report all crimes and suspicious movement to the police immediately. Allow the law to take its course, because if you take the law into your own hands you become a suspect and will be charged,” Malefo said.