The rising tide of mob killings, euphemistically referred to as “mob justice”, is cause for concern. Recently, eight men were killed and another critically injured in an alleged mob justice incident in Zandspruit informal settlement, west of Johannesburg. The men were also burnt before they succumbed to their injuries.
Then two men were also killed in the informal settlement of Qalabusha in Daveyton, on the East Rand. One of the victims was left for dead after being attacked with electric cables, iron rods and stones and had to be admitted to the intensive care unit. In a bone-chilling act of savagery, the victim was brought before his mother where they continued to brutalise him, claiming that they wanted to kill him in front of his mother.
Who in their right minds does that? Even more disturbing were the utterances of a resident that the community was tired of the incompetence of the police. “Here we don’t call the police anymore. We blow a whistle when we catch a thief and we beat the life out of you. It sends a very strong message to all others who want to try stealing from us.”
This is the mind-set that has to change as it undermines the rule of law, which is a foundational pillar of our democratic society. What the resident seems to suggest is that killing of suspects by a mob serves as a deterrent for would-be offenders.
This flies in the face of the legal purposes of the punishment of offenders – which include deterrence, preventative, reformative and retributive aspects. By killing suspects, the reformative aspect is completely ignored as they are not given the opportunity to plead their cases. In essence, the notion of so-called “mob justice” is a barbaric solution to crime.
About a month ago, an elderly lady who suffered from mental illness was killed by a mob in Mapetla, Soweto, after being accused of witchcraft. She was also partly burnt before succumbing to her injuries in hospital. In acts of mob justice, the mob assumes the role of accuser, prosecutor, judge and executor.
What also needs to change is the reference to acts of criminal execution of suspects as justice, as these can never be justified.
Justice is legally defined as fairness, moral rightness, a scheme or system of law in which every person receives his/her due from the system, including all rights, both natural and legal. Mob justice does not afford its victims any rights and is therefore an aberration of justice.
Calling it mob barbarity would be more appropriate. Mob justice also eliminates the element of mercy in the punishment of offenders. According to JA Holmes in Punishment: An Introduction to Principles, “The element of mercy, a hallmark of a civilised and enlightened administration, should not be overlooked, lest the court be in danger of reducing itself to the plane of the criminal…
“True mercy has nothing in common with soft weakness, or maudlin sympathy for the criminal, or permissive tolerance. It is an element of justice itself.”
Victims of mob barbarity are shown no mercy, which places the concept of mob justice in the realm of plain criminality which is deserving of lawful punishment.
It is fashionable for the perpetrators of mob barbarity to point to the failings of the legal system, especially the inefficiency of the police, as the cause of the resort to criminality of their own. This is a disingenuous and simplistic argument that cannot justify the taking away of life without due process. It also violates the fundamental right to life enshrined in the Bill of Rights in the South African Constitution.
The inherent danger in the scourge of mob killing is that it normalises violence, with growing children internalising it as an acceptable way of adjudicating over disputes and meting out punishment.
An African proverb warns: “When a mother steals while carrying a baby on her back, she risks introducing the baby to the same habit.”
It is imperative for the police to jack up their act and arrest the perpetrators of mob killings and also declare mob attacks as a priority crime among a bevy of other priority crimes such as gender-based violence, murder, farm attacks and so forth. It is imperative that the rule of law holds firm as the alternative to it would be a straight path to anarchy and mayhem.
The reference to the criminal acts by community members as justice should also come to a stop as it undermines efforts by the criminal justice system to root out the scourge. Mob justice belongs in the Dark Ages and not in modern society and must therefore be condemned in the strongest possible terms. Perpetrators must have the book thrown at them to serve as a deterrent to would-be murderers.
Government, the police and communities must work together to root out this scourge that is threatening to rock the foundations of our democracy.
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