Cape Town - Vigilante justice is rearing its ugly head again in different townships around Cape Town with several deaths blamed on kangaroo courts, which community leaders have blame for a loss of faith in the criminal justice system.
This week four people were killed during mob justice attacks in the city, among them an unidentified man whose body was discovered burnt beyond recognition and dumped inside the garden of a local primary school in Browns Farm, Philippi.
The case which has since been registered by police for further investigation mimics another incident that occurred in Ravensmead.
According to the community Philippi/Hanover Park CPF chairperson Abraham Ebrahim, the body of a woman was found burnt near a local primary school in the area earlier this week.
Ebrahim said he believed the case was related to mob justice attacks that have begun to occur more frequently in several communities across the Cape.
“This is the result of miscommunication between law enforcement agencies and people. People are tired of the crime operations that continuously miss the mark when they are there to assist.
“People are frustrated and fed up with being taken advantage of and while I do not condone their actions it's clear why they have decided to mete out their brand of justice. The unfortunate thing is that if no interventions are put in place soon this will boil over into a catastrophic mess.”
Last week members of the public were left shaken after a video of two men being beaten by a group of angry residents went viral on social media.
The video which was recorded in Delft, saw residents brutally assault duo, alleged to be thieves as police stood by and watched. One of the victims died shortly after the incident.
Community Safety MEC Albert Fritz condemned the attack and called on residents to utilise state institutions where they suspect or have evidence of criminal activity.
Two weeks ago on March 15, two residents from Enkanini, Khayelitsha, were brutally assaulted by members of the public for allegedly stealing a cellphone.
One of the victims of the attack died from injuries he sustained while the other victim survived the attack.
Khayelitsha CPF chairperson Phindile George said while he understands the reasons why residents in the community are resorting to mob justice the forum could in no way condone the criminal acts.
“Rather than condone or say we understand why people are resorting to committing crimes in the form of assaulting persons they suspect to be criminals, we are urging residents to work with us to alleviate the levels of crime in our communities.
“We would rather have people join neighbourhood watches and other crime prevention initiatives and actively work to rid our streets of criminals legally than to have our residents participate in crimes.”
Speaking on the resurgence of vigilante justice in Cape communities, Dr Guy Lamb at Stellenbosch University’s department of political science, said while it may seem as the attacks had once again flared up, the truth was they never stopped but were just less publicised.
“As a history point, vigilantism has always been with us. It’s not necessarily flaring up now. It happens fairly regularly in disadvantaged and impoverished communities.
“We see it often in poor communities where groups such as taxi associations, street watches, neighbourhood committees, and other types of community groups that are willing to perpetrate vigilante justice, these groups see the value in perpetrating vigilante justice.
“There is also a sense of meting out instantaneous punishment because the South African criminal justice system does not, and also the visibility of the punishment is not necessarily there.
“People living in high crime areas are also very aware that conviction rates are particularly low for violent crimes, especially in communities where violent crimes are rife.
“Unfortunately, this is a continuing issue in South Africa, and If we want to reduce these incidents we could use some of the recommendations in the Khayelitsha commission of inquiry because those are still valid today,” said Lamb.
Cape Argus