The Cape Argus approached three experts with three questions about mob violence.
|||Cape Town - The Cape Argus approached three experts with three questions about mob violence:
* What are the causes of mob violence?
* What are the statistics on the incidence of mob violence?
* What is being done to address mob violence?
Dominique Dix-Peek of the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation:
“Because of crime in South Africa, people are feeling more and more vulnerable and threatened.
“In addition, there is less trust in the police for various reasons - for example, the way the police react in communities. There is a separation between the community and the police.
“If people don’t feel that they can trust the police to assist them, instead of taking the legal route, they take a mob type of format. Once you have a vigilante system, there aren’t mechanisms in place that protect the victim or perpetrator.”
Gareth Newham of the Institute for Security Studies:
“The term ‘mob justice’ is problematic because there is no justice involved in any sense. Too often, innocent people are murdered and severely assaulted in these attacks after being falsely accused.
“Better terms are vigilantism or ‘mob killings’. Vigilantism has a long history in South Africa and occurred during apartheid because people did not see the criminal justice system as legitimate. It (has remained) a serious challenge since the beginning of our democracy for the same underlying reason.
“According to the police, 5 percent of all murders in 2011/12 were as a result of vigilantism. This means that during the past financial year, there were as many as 780 murders as a result of vigilante action, which translates into an average of two vigilante murders every day.
“These killings typically happen because the perpetrators of vigilantism do not have faith that the criminal justice system will effectively punish the alleged criminals. They often tend to see the police as unresponsive or corrupt.
“As a result, vigilantes also do not believe that they will be held accountable for taking the law into their own hands when they assault or murder people.
“Improving policing at a local level and holding vigilantes accountable for their actions before courts of law will go a long way towards addressing this problem.”
Dan Plato, MEC of community safety, Western Cape government:
In an oral reply in Parliament on April 13 he said: “An SAPS task team report stated that three stations in Khayelitsha collectively recorded 78 incidents between April 2011 and June 2012 related to what it called ‘bundu courts’.
“It must be remembered that it is primarily the task of the SA Police Service to address the problem of vigilantism and that my department and I only have an oversight role to play. In this regard I have mentioned the vigilante killings on numerous occasions to the provincial commissioner during regular meetings I have had with him to discuss the crime situation in the province.
“I have also escalated this problem to the national Minister of Police during the meetings between the minister and the MECs that I attended.”
Cape Argus