The situation at Khwekhwe outside Louis Trichardt was tense earlier this week, with roads barricaded by stones and heavy objects, making it impossible for motorists to pass.

This was during a protest by angry residents who had allegedly caught a thief red-handed at a house in the area. The alleged thief, whose age was not known, was caught in the early hours of Monday, breaking into a house in the area.

The community swiftly apprehended him and gave him instant justice. Apparently he howled like a wounded wolf, mentioning the names of his accomplices and places they had stolen from. The incident follows an incident late last year where a man was allegedly killed by thugs in the village.

Angry residents at the time went on the rampage and torched homes belonging to the suspected robbers. Ironically, the recent incident happened when the suspects in last year's murder were appearing in the Vuwani Magistrate's Court.

After his capture, the thug was stripped and left only in his underpants. He then took residents to different houses where stolen goods were found. Wearing a tyre around his neck, notoriously known as the “necklace” during struggle times, the man was paraded through the streets with his load of loot. His body was bruised and his face swollen with blood after a hard beating by angry residents.

He was taken to a nearby sports field where he mentioned all the places he had stolen from, as well as his accomplices. The police, who were tipped off about the incident and arrived at the sports field, were told to back off as they were not welcome. They left but summoned reinforcements. After interrogating him, the residents took him to more locations and to point out his accomplices.

From the sports field, the residents moved down the main road with their captive, but at the main intersection of the Sibasa-Tshakhuma road they were met by heavily armed police, who rescued the badly injured man. An ugly stand-off between the police and angry residents ensued at the intersection, with the police having to battle the huge crowd with tear gas and rubber bullets.

The big mob that had barricaded the road pelted the police with stones.

A woman who lost more than R3 000 during a burglary last Tuesday said he was the same person who had broken into her house. “I confronted him and he confessed to the theft and told me that he was sent by his bosses and that he did not know the place as he was from Tswinga, a village very far from where the incident happened. We are really tired of crime in this area and police are not doing anything to save the situation. People feel that taking the law into their own hands is the only option,” she said.

Levubu police spokesperson Warrant Officer Solly Mukhola said when they received information about the citizen's arrest and seizure of suspected stolen goods, they were happy but were disappointed that the community refused to hand over the suspect and also the suspected stolen goods to the police. “We had to use minimal force to wrestle the injured man from the mob, but the stolen items were nowhere to be found. We urge people to desist from taking the law into their own hands as it is a breach of the law in itself.

He added that the police have opened a public violence case as a car had its windows broken during the mayhem. "No one has been arrested so far, but investigations are continuing. We took the badly injured man to hospital where he is under guard,” he said.

Mukhola commended the local community leadership for making it possible to work with the police to get the situation under control.