By Theodorah Waga Mawasha
MOKGOLOBOTHO-The residents of Mokgoloboto village, Greater Tzaneen, were up in arms earlier today after they caught two males with stolen goods suspected to be stolen from the village.
The suspects were allegedly found in possession of a stolen plasma TV and Jojo tank loaded on a bakkie.
The residents reportedly suspected that the goods were stolen and attacked them.
The suspected thieves, begged the growing crowd of angry residents to stop assaulting him. But he and his alleged accomplice found no mercy from this impoverished community.
Its residents are “sick and tired of being victims” of crime. “Today, we’re going to kill these thieves,” said one community member licking his lips.
Their hands were tied with wire, their faces bloodied, as they were dragged for several kilometres in the searing heat.
“If you don’t give us the TVs, we’re going to burn you. That’s how we’ll kill you,” warned some residents.
“We have to take the law into our own hands. The police don’t care. They will just release them,” said Nyiko Mabunda, a resident of Mokgolobotho RDPs.
“Yes, we have to teach them a lesson… we will burn rope in the hands they used to steal from us,” said her friend, Esther Letswalo.
A patrolling Ritavi police van tried to follow the crowd through Mokgolobotho’s dusty alleys.
Police back-up was called.
As the crowd bayed for his blood, suspect shirt bloodied, and his one eye swollen and sealed shut, seemed to plead with the police to intervene as the crowd tried to get to him.
Protectively, the police encircled him.
“We are taking them with us,” an armed policewoman informed the crowd. “We can’t allow mob justice.”
The police put the two men in their van and drove off.
The community roared, incensed.
#TzaneenVoice
