Shayandima community want to “discipline” all the criminals in the area

A community gathering that was held to seek ways to fight crime in the Shayandima area turned sour when residents decided to go and set alight three main suspects on Sunday afternoon.

The residents, however, found that the three male youths were not at their homes. The community then vowed that they would do whatever it took to make sure that no criminals continued to terrorise the community.

“We are tired of crime and criminals,” shouted one community member during the meeting at the soccer field of Shayandima Secondary School. "When we report cases and the criminals get arrested, they are released the following day. So we want to be protectors of our lives and the lives of our children.”

It was heard during the meeting that some groups of men terrorised the community. The meeting on Sunday came after a group of unruly men got into a household where there was a funeral and demanded the collection money donated by community members to help the bereaved family. “The family refused,” said another resident, addressing the community. “So they returned and stole a bag of mealie meal and other food that was meant for feeding the mourners.”

According to a woman, a young man is the leader "of these men and he has spoken openly that if we ever lay a hand on him or speak ill of him he will burn us inside our houses in the night.” A resident also said that people carrying pangas mugged early morning joggers. “We wonder what they want from a jogger in sports pants and a vest,” a resident added.

There were an outcry from some residents, who said that foreigners were responsible for the spate of criminal activities happening in Shayandima. Some residents were quick to refute that claim and said that  a 27-year-old Zimbabwean man, Mr Joe Chiphiri, had been robbed by locals on Saturday. They took his wrist watch, mobile phone, spectacles and some cash.

“Crime is coming from all sides,” said a resident. “To our brothers from neighbouring countries, we know that some of you had come here to work hard and there are also others who have come to do crime. We will discipline them!”

Some residents reminded the crowd that the Tshakhuma hawkers and residents had necklaced a thug who had terrorised them some two years ago. “Today they keep a tyre and five-litre bottle of petrol ready to burn whomever tries to terrorise them,” a man said. “Parents, we urge you to warn your disrespectful sons to stop terrorising our communities because we will discipline your sons with the fiercest of actions and you will cry.”

A community elder and prominent cleric, Pastor Isaac Dagada, reminded the community that there was nothing wrong with discussing the issue of crime and seeking ways to solve the problem of rampant criminal activities. “Let us all think soberly and deal with this burning issue in a positive manner,” he said briefly.

The residents were losing patience and some youths started to shout that all the people must go right away to discipline some young men whose names had been mentioned at the gathering. Most people, even women who carried suckling babies in their arms, agreed that it was time to go "and to teach them a lesson".

The director of Munna Ndi Nnyi, Mr Bardwell Mufunwaini, stated during the meeting that crime was affecting all the people of Vhembe and not only residents of Shayandima. “Let us wage a positive war against crime and not kill people.”

Commenting on the meeting, provincial police spokesperson Col Ronel Otto said residents were not allowed to take the law into their own hands. She indicated that the Shayandima residents must visit the police station and request to form a community policing forum (CPF). “The CPF and the police will work together and see how best to solve the problem of crime,” Otto said. “Mob justice, and this includes burning the so-called suspects, will not solve crime since it is a criminal activity itself.”

Date:20 May 2016

By: Tshifhiwa Mukwevho

Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho was born in 1984 in Madombidzha village, not far from Louis Trichardt in the Limpopo Province. After submitting articles for roughly a year for Limpopo Mirror's youth supplement, Makoya, he started writing for the main newspaper. He is a prolific writer who published his first book, titled A Traumatic Revenge in 2011. It focusses on life on the street and how to survive amidst poverty. His second book titled The Violent Gestures of Life was published in 2014.

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