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At the height of South Africa’s 1990s crime wave, foreign TV channels became fascinated by South African vigilantism and made several documentaries on the subject. Part of the allure was the naiveté of vigilante leaders, who would openly explain what they intended to do (“punish criminals”) and why (“democracy is weak”) and then allow themselves to be fi lmed doing it. When police began to use the resulting footage to arrest perpetrators, vigilante leaders became more cautious, and by the time ETV made a three-part documentary on the subject in 2012 they had learned to shut up entirely. ETV informed viewers that Diepsloot was “probably the world capital of mob justice killings,” but was unable to provide further details. In short, mob justice is a curiously understudied phenomenon. The SAPS treats vigilante killings as ordinary murders and keeps no separate record of mob justice attacks. Stats SA avoids the subject. The Institute for Security Studies has recently begun to track vigilante actions, but no results are available as yet. As for newspapers, their coverage is patchy. Which is why Capetonians were shocked to hear, in February 2014, that 78 criminal suspects had been burned or beaten to death in public in just one part of their city in the fi fteen months leading up to June 2012 1 . This revelation came courtesy of the aforementioned Khayelitsha Commission, set up the Democratic Alliance to investigate failures of policing on the Cape Flats. As previously mentioned, the commission confi rmed grave policing problems. Here we are interested largely in the light it shed on the mob justice phenomenon. In this regard, the Commission reached the obvious conclusion: vigilantism is a symptom of poor policing, and the only conceivable cure is restoration of the social contract – in other words, persuade the populace to cease vigilante attacks by demonstrating that the state is capable of providing effective policing. Its other contribution was to produce the fi rst clear evidence of the prevalence of mob justice murders. If there are fi ve vigilante killings (plus scores of beatings) in Khayelitsha every month, how many such incidents take place nationwide? Vigilantism is a symptom of poor policing, and the only conceivable cure is restoration of the social contract – in other words, persuade the populace to cease vigilante attacks by demonstrating that the state is capable of providing effective policing. An answer will hopefully emerge one day, but at present we are clueless. All we can do is attempt to understand the vigilante psychosis at present gripping many of South Africa’s poorer townships. In September 2015, there was a prolonged outbreak of vigilantism in Masiphumelele, a small township in the Fish Hoek valley south of Cape Town. Little more than one square kilometre in extent, it is home to some 45,000 people, many crammed into backyard shacks or tin shanties precariously located in the surrounding wetland. Service delivery is poor, unemployment rife, disease rife and nyaope 2 addiction commonplace. The nearest police station, Ocean View, is radically understaffed, with half as many police per capita as the one in nearby Fish Hoek, a middle-class area with low crime rates. Initially regarded as a peaceful place, Masiphumelele became a crime hot-spot in 2011. The number of murders recorded at Ocean View police station rose 62 percent over the next four years. Attempted murders soared by 122 percent, robberies by 172 percent. Most of these crimes were poorly investigated, and calls for the establishment of a satellite police station were ignored. Frustration was building. 1 The Khalelitsha Commission report mentions a “Bundu Courts” document provided by police that detailed 78 vigilante murders. Elsewhere, the commission report says three of these killings were not mob-related, and in several others, the circumstances could not be determined. This might reduce the number of confi rmed “mob justice” executions to around 60. 22 SOUTH AFRICAN INSTITUTE OF RACE RELATIONS 2230_SAIRR_WWACinSA_sm4.indd 22 2016/09/05 5:04 PM
On the morning of September 15, Mrs. Pula of Masiphumulele’s Street left for work at 7 am, leaving her 14-year-old son Amani eating breakfast at the kitchen table. When the boy’s uncle came home from his nightshift job around 10.30 am, Amani was lying on a sofa with his hands tied behind his back, raped and murdered by an unknown intruder. As news of the killing spread, an extraordinary conversation began to unfold on Masiphumelele’s closed Facebook page. The participants were generally stable, respectable people, rich enough to afford computers or smart phones. Some held good jobs. Many identifi ed themselves as Christians. As noted, participants in vigilantism seldom talk to police, so their motives usually remain opaque. Against this backdrop, the Masiphumulele Facebook conversation offers unprecedented insight into the values that bind township communities together, and the frustration that causes them to take the law into their own hands. The conversation began around noon, as news of Amani Pula’s murder spread. Surnames have been redacted, and some comments translated from isiXhosa. Thulisa: Thembi: Thulisa again: Mxolisi: Karen : Thembi: Liso: Belinda: Liso again: Shingai: Alverado: Anon: Shain: Lubha: Another child has been raped and murdered in this community. What is going on? Why are we silent? Gosh that person is heartless to do such a thing. Where will we hide if we don’t fight for our freedom? It’s been happening a long time something need to be done. Praying for God’s children to be a light in the darkness. C’mon ppl of Masi let’s stand up and fight ds crimes ts not gud. Criminals are united one big family. People must stop buying stolen goods from them becos they creating market. How will they stop otherwise? If we can deal with those people who buy stolen goods and make them shit and see where they take us. They order things as if from the factory. You are robbed whilst people are watching when skollies are gone dats e time u see ppl askin ‘what did they take did they stab you bhuti ne?’ What’s gona help when my fone is gone? Beat him up when you saw him stealing. Serious we should show oneliness if somebody is being robbed let’s go and help not coming to ask when they are gone. So where do we go from here? Mob violence is not the answer This is shit, pardon my language. If you are a man let’s meet at the Baptist church at 7pm tonight. Lubabalo “Lubha” Lubha Vellem, 35, is chairman of the Masiphumele Backyards and Informal Settlement Forum. He’s about to launch into an adventure that will land him in deep trouble. Sipho: Please people keep your tablets and smart phones at home today. We are deeply hurt. So if you are there to pimp on us we will see you and we say to you, you won’t like it. WARNING! 2 Nyaope is a street drug combining dagga, low-grade heroin and chemical stimulants. WINNING THE WAR ON CRIME IN SOUTH AFRICA: A NEW APPROACH TO COMMUNITY POLICING 23 2230_SAIRR_WWACinSA_sm4.indd 23 2016/09/05 5:04 PM
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Page 7 and 8: 2000 2013 CHANGE COUNTRY NUMBERS RA
Page 9 and 10: Table 4: Breakdown of aggravated ro
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Page 13 and 14: Before he came to trial, however, t
Page 15 and 16: Oddly, SAPS generals and the cabine
Page 17 and 18: YEAR ACTIVE REGISTERED SECURITY BUS
Page 19 and 20: African identity documents purchase
Page 21: After Uhuru, when many fl edgling A
Page 25 and 26: are presumably rooted in the fact t
Page 27 and 28: In 2000, Solidarity founded Helpend
Page 29 and 30: helicopter, private security reacti
Page 31 and 32: This early success sparked more suc

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