The effects of vigilantism on the community of Diepsloot

Date
2013-09-06
Authors
Madienyane, Dickson
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Vigilantism is a reality that is going to persist into the future for as long as crime exists. The Diepsloot community is not unique to other parts of the country like Khayelitsha, New Brighton, Gugulethu and others in resorting to mob justice. The satisfaction sourced from eliminating a criminal (s) seems to fuel the resolve around this method of justice. The scourge of crime is pretexted as the main reason behind the mob attacks which the community qualifies by the claim that the police are incapable to police crime. The Diepsloot community knows the moral and legal restrictions around crime of this magnitude but their knowledge of police incapacity allows them to justify this horrendous act. Mob justice incidents may not be occurring daily but their spread across the calendar is an uncomfortable reality everyone should be concerned of. The community, especially the victims, suffer permanent scars of fear and the burden on victim families is enormous. Victim families tend to grapple with permanent problem of dependants that have been incapacitated by the mob attacks. By far, victim families believe that perpetrators continue with impunity and the law-enforcement has revised intervention strategies. Multitask teams (like churches, youth, men’s forum and sport) have been formed to reach out to the community but somehow no objective needs-analysis have been conducted thus the products are right but have no consumers. The role played by the police in community projects is acknowledged but the coordination structure is too centralised to purport local ownership. The concepts of moral regeneration and social cohesion have to find practical studies in the community of Diepsloot so as to comprehend the interest of the residents and be impactful to do paradigm shift.
Description
Keywords
Crime prevention, Mob justice, Vigilantes, Diepsloot, South Africa
Citation
Collections