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Shocked residents Ms Ozzie Sibafa, Mr Elias Matangwaza and Ms Taki Lambani look at the spot where Knowledge Zukwa was killed by the mob.

Man (20) beaten to death in Tshikota

 

The ugly face of mob violence reared its head again in Tshikota during the past weekend. On Sunday, a mob of angry residents attacked a 20-year-old Zimbabwean man and beat him to death.

The police's provincial spokesperson, Col Ronel Otto, said on Wednesday that the police were still investigating the circumstances around the incident that led to the man's death. “We can confirm that the deceased, Mr Knowledge Zukwa, a Zimbabwean national, was found dead on Sunday,” said Otto.

She indicated that the police had received information that Zukwa had stolen some goods from people residing at Tshikota. The victims of these alleged burglaries and theft went to Zukwa's house and found their stolen goods inside his shack. That was when they allegedly got angry and started beating him.

According to eyewitnesses, who refused to be named, Zukwa dashed out of his shack and ran down the street. Residents cornered him, however, before he could reach the nearby bushes. “They picked up whatever they could lay their hands on and hit him until he died,” said one eyewitness. “He was totally naked. I have never seen a human being die such a horrible death in my whole life.”

The leader of the Zimbabwean community in Limpopo, Mr Gift Eglone, said that inasmuch as the Zimbabwean community in South Africa did not support crime, they also did not support murder and street justice.

“We solely believe in the national justice system and believe that every offender must face the wrath of the law if proven guilty,” he said. “We say the police and the courts are there to do their work.”

Eglone stressed that if they had tried to protect the guy from the wrath of the mob, it would have seemed as if the Zimbabwean community supported the criminal activities going on in Tshikota. “That action alone would have resulted in an even bigger war,” he indicated. “Then it would have been a war of one nationality against another – something which we do not want to see happening here.”

According to Eglone, the community was very angry and did not want to show any mercy to the alleged offender. Even the police themselves could not do much as the community did not want to see the police at the scene.

“There were only two officers, who couldn't use any force to stop the masses as they would have put their own lives in danger,” Eglone said. “They said that more vans and police force members were attending to a similar incident at Mailaskop.”

A relative of the deceased, Mr Elias Matangwaza, echoed Eglone's sentiments. He said that watching his relative lying naked and dead in the open was too much for him. “It may take me years to recover from the trauma,” he said.

Cllr Brian du Plooy (Ward 21) condemned the act of mob justice and said that the residents must always give the police a chance to do their work. “This situation is unacceptable,” he said. “We have scheduled a community meeting for next Wednesday, where we will talk about this pressing issue.”

Meanwhile, it has just emerged that Zukwa was an acquitted suspect in the case which also involved 'gang leader' Given Mpofu. He previously went by the alias of Courage Shoko. Mpofu and his friends (including Zukwa or Shoko) had apparently upset the Tshikota residents late last year because of his alleged criminal activities.

News - Date: 15 August 2014

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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]

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