Daily Sun (December 9 2014) - FOR YEARS the people of the village have lived a life of fear at the hands of thugs and gangs.
Now a new gang, calling itself the Boko Haram, has taken violence and bloodshed to a new level.
AND IT APPEARS THEIR REIGN OF TERROR WON'T BE
ENDING SOON.
In the latest acts of terror, two men died in a night of violence on Sunday night.
The gang operates in the crime-torn Dan Village outside Tzaneen, Limpopo. It is linked to the stoning and torching of the Mercedes-Benz belonging to Dodo Mushwana, a controversial ward councillor of the Greater Tzaneen Municipality.
A spokesman for the police in Ritavi, Warrant Officer Seth Magadzi, said police were told by villagers that a 32-year-old man had been kidnapped by a group of people who went to a house in Dan Village known for harbouring criminals.
Magadzi said it appears that when the men arrived at the house, the owner of the house came running out with a gun in his hand, firing wildly.
"It appears he thought the men were coming to attack him," said Magadzi.
"He shot one of the men in the group in the stomach."
The wounded man was rushed to Letaba Hospital near Tarentaalrand where he was certified dead minutes after admission.
He was identified as Prince Hlangweni.
Hlangweni is known in the area as a crime-fighter and it isn't known if he was part of the gang.
The man who shot Hlangweni has since disappeared.
Magadzi said soon after the shooting, the group dragged the man they kidnapped to Mokgoloboto, about 2km from Dan Village.
The naked body of the man was found three hours later by police, hanging from a tree near the village graveyard.
Police identified the dead man as Nkateko Matye (35) of Dan Village.
Residents are saying that the group calling itself Boko Haram consists of up to 200 youths armed with machetes and slashers.
A local resident who asked not to be named for fear of victimisation, said seven suspected members of the group were caught and handed over to Ritavi police after angry villagers found them at a church.
Firearms were confiscated from the group.
"They were pretending to be there for prayers, but we dragged them out.
"However, police later released them," he said.
One community leader said many residents believe the group is connected to police officers who make it easy for them to evade justice.
Now angry villagers threaten to plunge the village into turmoil.
The furious community told the People's Paper yesterday they will turn to vigilantism to defend themselves from Boko Haram.
"Our lives are at risk because we know how these criminals operate.
The police know these people but they do nothing with the information we give them," said Dodo Mushwana, who is at the forefront of fighting crime in the area.
"We will take the law into our own hands if police do nothing."
Police spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said they are aware of a gang which terrorises the community but could not confirm if they call themselves Boko Haram.
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