Daily Sun (May 25 2015) - RAGE against violent thugs boiled over in Dobsonville, Diepsloot and Thokoza in the past few days. Suspects were beaten to a pulp and in one case, a man was nearly necklaced in the people’s war on crime!
THERE is no doubt there are high levels of violent crime in Mzansi.
There is also no doubt that our communities are increasingly let down by the criminal justice system.
THE PICTURES ON THE FRONT PAGE AND THIS PAGE SHOW THAT MOST COMMUNITES ARE GATVOL WITH CRIMINALS.
They believe criminals are not dealt with adequately by the justice system.
But there is no justification for taking another person’s life.
There is also no justification for those who are meant to protect residents from criminals failing to do their job.
For us to see an end to acts of mob justice, we need our cops and our courts to work much harder to arrest and prosecute criminals swiftly.
I
Suspects saved from death
THESE two teens are lucky to be alive today. Cops saved them from necklacing.
Angry residents of Soweto’s Dobsonville stripped and beat the pair, accusing them of housebreaking.
Cops arrived while they were waiting for petrol to burn them.
Residents said they were sick of thugs breaking in and robbing them at home.
The young men were caught on Thursday with bags, allegedly on ther way to retrieve stolen loot from the bush.
Furious residents vowed to do anything to stop the plague of robbery, car hijacking, housebreaking and bag snatching.
They claimed the two men hid stolen sound systems and household items like cutlery and electronic appliances in the bush.
On Thursday, community policing forum members spotted them carrying bags on their way to the bush.
A 37-year-old resident, who didn’t want to be named for fear of being victimised, said: “We wanted to burn them. They were lucky we didn’t have petrol.”
Another resident said a woman was robbed of R10 000 at her gate. “Nyaope boys come from neighbouring Snake Park.”
There weren’t enough police patrols, he said. Residents said crime was out of control and thugs even stole from the graveyard. Cops said the two suspects aged 19 were bust and will appear in court soon.
II
Man found stoned and burned
RESIDENTS were horrified and traumatised when they found the body of a man who had been stoned and set alight in the veld on Saturday.
The people of Thokoza in Ekurhuleni said the unknown man’s body was found by a person taking a short cut through the open veld.
The shocked woman immediately alerted the cops.
Mantwa Morake (38) said she couldn’t believe that something like this had happened on their doorstep.
She said she was still struggling to deal with what she saw.
“It’s sad how cruel people are. This is not something you expect to see in a small community like ours.
“At the scene we saw bloodstains and stones. Imagine the pain he must have suffered before he died.”
Another resident, Themba Khambule (42), said: “He was brutally killed. By burning the body, the thugs responsible wanted to hide the evidence.
“They might as well just have eaten his flesh. These people must be arrested and rot in jail.”
Nomvula Mabena said: “It’s very scary when you hear about these things. You never expect something like this to happen in your area.”
Thokoza cop spokesman Constable Patrick Mashiane said a case of murder has been opened. He said the victim had terrible injuries on his face and hands.
“The motive is not known at this stage and we appeal to anyone with information to report it to the police,” he said.
He said the body was taken to a government mortuary.
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