Mobs kill our sons

The terrifying reality of mob justice, as well as the cruel and unfair nature of these “bush courts”, came to the fore the past few months. Several incidents were reported in the Vhembe area where “suspects” were mercilessly beaten to death by angry mobs.

In a number of cases the attacks were the result of the communities’ frustration with the lack of proper law enforcement. It does, however, seem that there may be people with even more sinister motives, using the mobs hunger for vengeance to do their dirty work. This has caused the deaths of innocent people whose only “mistake” was being in the wrong place at the time.

The past two weeks, terrifying images were distributed on social media of the burnt body of a young victim of such a mob attack. Even people who work in other provinces were left shocked by what was happening back home in the Vhembe district.

One of the victims was the 24-year-old Phumudzo Mudau, a resident of Ngwenani ya ha Themeli. His family members were traumatised after witnessing the death of their son and were placed in a counselling programme run by the Munna Ndi Nnyi men’s forum.

During Limpopo Mirror's visit to the family on Saturday, the family explained that Phumudzo was kidnapped in the streets of his village, bundled into a car and taken to Gondeni la Mabilu village. It is alleged that three Somalian businessmen and a local man had kidnapped him on 24 April.

“We heard from a resident that our son, who had just returned from Gauteng on leave a week earlier, was taken forcefully by four men,” the tearful mother, Mrs Lufuno Mudau, said. “We phoned Phumudzo, but his one phone was off-line while the other one kept ringing unanswered. So we decided to rush to Gondeni village.”

When Phumudzo’s father, Mr Ndinannyi Mudau, and his mother arrived at Gondeni, they found that there was a mob of noisy people. They negotiated their way through the mob and found that there was a young man lying on the ground. “It was my son Phumudzo; I couldn’t recognise him at first as he was swollen and covered in dust.”

The father told the people that the young man was his son and wanted to know why they were assaulting him. He was informed that Phumudzo had been terrorising the Gondeni residents for over two months, and that he had robbed one Somalian spaza-owner several times at gunpoint.

“They said they wanted to burn him right away,” he said. “It was then that I rushed to the police, who were standing a short distance away from the mob, and informed them to come to the rescue of my son. The police said they were afraid of the mob.”

Mudau and his wife heard the mob shouting and jeering. He turned and looked at the mob and saw a five-litre bottle raised above the heads of the people. “Liquid was pouring out of the bottle and soon a big flame of fire rose above the people,” he said. “All the people stepped back quickly. My wife and I rushed to help our son. He had stood up, engulfed in flames, and he was spinning around, trying to extinguish the fire that was burning him.”

A frustrated, shocked father grabbed his son and tore off his clothes with his bare hands. “He fell down after some time,” he said. “The police refused to take our son to the hospital and told us that they had called an ambulance. But, after some 30 minutes, we realised that the ambulance they claimed to have called was not coming. We then wrapped our son in a towel and took him to Tshilidzini Hospital.”

Phumudzo only lived three more days, however, and passed away on 26 April at Mankweng Hospital. “We feel sad about what had happened,” Mudau said. “My daughters still send Phumudzo ‘please call me’ messages, thinking he will call them back and buy them some clothes and pay for their tertiary tuition fees. He had a job in Gauteng and he was helping his siblings financially. He loved them and they loved him.”

The police’s spokesperson, Major Mashudu Malelo, confirmed that a case of murder had been opened, following the incident. “We have not made any arrests so far and our investigations in this case continue,” he said.

In another mob attack, a 31-year-old resident of Shayandima died after spending 13 painful days in a hospital bed.

The Shayandima residents had earlier stated that they had had enough of crime and that they would “discipline” anyone who “terrorised” the community.

Thanyani Freddy Masindi was assaulted by the community during the night of 5 May after it was alleged that he had forcefully gained entry into a woman's house in Shayandima earlier that day.

During an interview with Limpopo Mirror on Tuesday, the deceased’s mother, Ms Elizabeth Masindi, and the deceased’s sister, Ms Phathutshedzo Masindi, said the 13 days which Thanyani had spent in hospital were the most painful days of their lives.

“He told us that he was innocent and that he had not gone to that woman’s house,” Phathutshedzo said.

According to what Thanyani had told his family, he was home alone at around 22:30 when he heard a loud noise of people outside. He could tell it was a large group of drunk men. He heard them say that he needed to be “disciplined” and fear rained on him. He got up and went out through the front door. He then tried to hide under the banana trees.

The mob kicked open the back door and entered the house. “They searched the house, took his cigarettes and left the house,” Phathutshedzo retold her brother’s story.

After some time, Thanyani followed after the men. He called the police and notified them about the incident. He was told to remain on that very spot so that the police could get to him. “In the meantime, he approached the men and asked them why they had come to his home and broke the door,” Phathutshedzo said. “They told him about the incident where he was being alleged to have entered a woman's house. He denied the allegations.”

The group of men, who were all drunk, took him to the woman’s house so that she could look at him and confirm whether it was the same man who had forced himself into her house. “When they got there, the woman just looked at him and said it was him,” she said.

One of the men then hit him with an object on the back of his head. He felt excruciating pain, turned around and ran away. They shouted “vimba” and sleeping residents responded by coming out to the street. “He explained to us that residents whom he knew assaulted him with pangas, sticks, bricks, and kicked him in the private parts,” she wept. “They searched for some petrol and a tyre so that they could burn him to death. When they could not get those things, they took a thick piece of plastic and set it alight. The melted plastic fell on his back and legs, burning him so painfully.”

When they were sure that he was almost dead, they left him sprawling on the open side of the road.

When she heard about her son’s ordeal, Thanyani's mother returned home from her workplace in the city. “It is unimaginable that my very people, my fellow residents, had killed my son,” she said. “He was not caught on the alleged scene of the crime. They came to his home. They had no substantial evidence that he was the criminal in question.”

She added that before he could die in hospital on 18 May, Thanyani had provided the family and the police with a list of the drunk men who were the first people to attempt to kill him.

Thohoyandou police’s spokesperson, Major Mashudu Malelo said that the police had initially opened a case of assault. “Now that the victim of assault has died, we have opened a case of murder,” he said. “Our investigation team is busy working on this case. No arrests have been made yet.”

Malelo warned community members in the Vhembe district to refrain from taking the law into their own hands and report all incidents of crimes to the police.

The director of Munna Ndi Nnyi, Mr Bardwell Mufunwaini, condemned the burning of suspected criminals. “This is not the way to go; mob justice will never solve the problem of crime,” he said. “Affected residents must report all crimes to the police, whether the culprit is known or not.”

News - Date: 30 May 2016

Tshifhiwa Mukwevho

Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho was born in 1984 in Madombidzha village, not far from Louis Trichardt in the Limpopo Province. After submitting articles for roughly a year for Limpopo Mirror's youth supplement, Makoya, he started writing for the main newspaper. He is a prolific writer who published his first book, titled A Traumatic Revenge in 2011. It focusses on life on the street and how to survive amidst poverty. His second book titled The Violent Gestures of Life was published in 2014.

Email: [email protected]