Police have issued a strong warning to community members who take the law into their own hands.

This follows after a man who was barricading the road with sticks and stones was beaten up severely by angry villagers who accused him of destabilizing the peace in their village. The unknown man suddenly emerged from nowhere at Makonde village and started a ‘one-man protest’ at the Makonde – Tshilamba Road. He then started blocking the public road with sticks and stones while at the same time screaming on top of his voice: “Ro neta nga u viiwa. Maviavhathu kha vha gwevhiwe” (We are tired of ritual murder. Harsh sentences for ritual murderers).

Traffic halted for approximately 30 minutes in the busy public road as the demonstrator continued his protest while placing more pieces of wood and stones in the road, ignoring anyone who requested him to stop.

After some efforts by community members, the man told them that he would not stop blocking the road until the person who had sliced off Nyelisani Sidimela’s lips has been prosecuted. He told community members to leave him alone or else he would beat anyone who dared to come near him. That was the worst mistake he had ever committed in his life because he was applying for mob justice.

Like a scene from a Hollywood movie, angry community members started beating him mercilessly all over his body. Community members screamed Vimba! Vimba! (Catch him! Catch him!) as the unknown man tried to save himself by running away. Although he looked like a good athlete, his athletic skills failed him because the huge crowd caught him within 100m from where he had blocked the public road. Luckily, the unknown man was rescued by an off-duty member of the Emergency Medical Services, who persuaded the angry villagers to stop beating him and called an ambulance.

One of the villagers on the scene said: “You know, there are these unresolved ritual murder cases and some of the victims and alleged ritual murderers stay in this village. People like this man are taking advantage of the situation and they want to influence us to take the law into our own hands. We will never give in to this mentality because we are law-abiding citizens who will never solve ritual murder problems with violence. He got what he asked for and the beating will be a lesson he will never forget for the rest of his life.”

Vhembe Police spokesperson Supt. Ailwei Mushavhanamadi said it is against the law of the country to apply mob justice. “Although we know that it is wrong to barricade the road, community members should have made a citizen’s arrest and called the police to take the man away. Beating him up was wrong and we urge our societies to refrain from such practices.”