Introduction

In cases where police officers fail to deal with crimes related to the theft of livestock and are unable to arrest those implicated in such crimes for prosecution, most communities in Northern KwaZulu-Natal, including the community of eSikhemelele area, have habitually resorted to taking the law into their own hands and punishing those involved in the theft of their livestock themselves. Indeed, mob justice is a dehumanizing and unconstitutional practice in terms of South African law. However, the application of mob justice by the communities affected by the theft of livestock has contributed to reducing crime levels in their communities.

Defining and Contextualizing Mob Justice

Mob justice is when the community takes the law into their own hands and punishes those implicated in wrongdoings without reporting such wrongdoings to the nearest police station.

How Mob Justice is Applied in Northern KwaZulu-Natal?

Collectively, affected individuals and community members normally use corporal punishment and stoning on those who are caught red-handed. Following reports of livestock theft, all affected community members would come together, apprehend the suspected individuals, and physically punish them without fearing any legal consequences that may follow.

To some degree, infuriated and affected community members would reach a point where they collectively burn those individuals implicated in the theft of their livestock to death before informing their respective families about their wrongdoings so they can take their dead bodies for burial.

To What Extent Mob Justice Has Reduced Crime in Northern KwaZulu-Natal?

In the past years, the level of livestock theft has been alarmingly high since crimes related to the theft of livestock were not taken seriously by the local police, even though they were being reported. During that period, more than 10 cases of livestock theft were reported in a year. The sad part is that even though perpetrators were being arrested, they would be easily acquitted in court because there was not enough proof to prosecute them, even though the communities knew very well that they were the ones implicated in the theft of their livestock.

Thus, following the community’s realization that reporting such crimes to the police is a futile activity, these communities have established their ways of dealing with perpetrators of such crimes, which is mob justice.

The levels of such crimes have dropped significantly. Recently, a handful of young men implicated in livestock theft have been subjected to severe physical punishment. Some have been burnt to death. Although this is a dehumanizing act, the application of mob justice has reduced the number of cases related to livestock theft. This has also acted as a deterrent to others who have not yet engaged in similar crimes following witnessing that the result would be severe punishment and death.

Conclusion

Mob justice is an inhumane practice. However, it is worth noting that where police are lacking, this has played a significant role in reducing crime related to livestock theft in Northern KwaZulu-Natal. It is therefore significant that police listen to the grievances of the community and treat all cases equally so that these communities do not take the law into their own hands and ensure that no further grievous bodily harm and bloodshed occur in these communities.