In an unprecedented incident of brother against brother, two Zimbabweans were forcefully taken from their homes to a secluded spot in some bushes and killed. The violence started over the weekend when “law-abiding” Zimbabweans took it upon themselves to remove known criminals from their midst.

Zimbabweans living in the Vhembe area who have been the subject of ridicule and blame for most of the ills and criminality in the region of late, have taken it upon themselves to clear their names and root out all criminality perpetuated by their fellow countrymen. Hundreds of them left their piece jobs on Saturday and went on a cleanup spree, moving from one village to the next and also through the Thohoyandou CBD, in search of the identified criminals.

The incident came as a result of a meeting that was held by the foreign nationals, who were fed up with being chased from one village to the next and the townships in Vhembe and for being blamed for the spate of crimes being committed in most areas. This has created a lot of animosity between the locals and the foreign nationals, which led to this carnage.

Whoever was found, met the wrath of the angry “law-abiding” citizens, who wanted to show that they would never tolerate crime.

Those found were hit with bricks, pangas and any weapons that the angry mob could lay their hands on. It is not known how many received the instant justice.

According to a Zimbabwean who wants to remain anonymous, they are not all criminals. “This is just to show that we do not support crime, that most of us are here in the country legally. We are here because the conditions are not favourable back home, and we are law-abiding and making an honest living. We cannot afford to be chased away from this area because of a few people who are used to crime and are not prepared to change,” he said.

He said the Zimbabwean community had decided to clean out the criminal element in their ranks to clear their names and to show that they were not all criminals and only a few were into crime. “The many of us you see here are against crime. We do work and are law-abiding citizens. We know the criminals as they live among us. We cannot give them space to continue their criminal activities. We have to expose them and separate them from us. They are our brothers, but what they are doing is not good and gives all of us a bad name. People no longer trust us and this is making life difficult for us,” he added.

One such alleged criminal is a notorious gangster known only as Tupac. He was released from prison only last week and was believed to be the leader of the criminals. The witch hunt continued on Monday, when two notorious fugitives were abducted from Tswinga, taken to a secluded spot and seriously beaten. One of the alleged criminals, known as Solo, was killed on the spot while another unidentified man died at hospital after sustaining serious injuries.

Thohoyandou Cluster Commander Gen Nyiketani Baloyi has vowed to leave no stone unturned and promised to bring all perpetrators of violence against Zimbabweans to book. On Monday, he was accompanied by his management and visited a scene where two Zimbabweans had been killed. He said anarchy of any sort would not be allowed in South Africa.

In an interview at the scene of the murders, Baloyi did not mince his words when he called for the arrest of the perpetrators and killers of the alleged criminals. “We have taken a decision that this matter be thoroughly investigated. We are now launching an operation to clear the area . What is happening cannot be allowed in South Africa,” said Baloyi.

He said they had received reports of three people seriously injured. “We took them to hospital, but on Monday we received reports of further attacks. Unfortunately, one of those attacked was killed, while the other died in hospital,” added Baloyi.