Thursday, June 26, 2025

August 5, 2022

Mob Justice Runs Riot In Krugersdorp [Videos]

Residents of Kagiso, a township situated in Krugersdorp, have taken the law into their own hands and are targeting illegal miners in mob justice attacks.

[imagesource: The Sowetan]

Content warning: descriptions of sexual violence

Last Thursday, eight women were robbed and repeatedly gang raped while filming a music video at a disused mine at West Village in Krugersdorp.

Illegal miners in the area are the prime suspects and police, during raids using a drone, helicopters, and intelligence destroyed illegal mining equipment and made more than 120 arrests.

Law enforcement has appealed to local communities to let them do their jobs, but there is no trust between the people of this country and those we are supposed to rely on to protect us.

The investigation into the illegal mining and gang rapes is already giving off warning signs.

Residents of Kagiso, a township situated in Krugersdorp, have now taken the law into their own hands and are targeting illegal miners (or zama zamas) in mob justice attacks.

News24 reports on yesterday’s manhunt focused on mine dumps:

Groups of residents closed more than 10 holes with rocks, where they claimed illegal miners were hiding. Before noon, locals found more than 20 men believed to be illegal miners.

They stripped them naked and whipped them with sjamboks…

Image: Guillem Sartorio / AFP]

At a different area in Kagiso, two men were badly beaten in full view of high-ranking officials.

The deputy national commissioner, Lieutenant-General Tebello Mosikili, could not account as to why police officers on the scene did not intervene.

She called the incident “unfortunate” and readily admitted that police are “overwhelmed”.

Footage showed some men stripped naked with the community watching on:

Multiple videos showed residents nabbing alleged illegal miners and handing them over to police:

Residents accused of harbouring illegal miners were also violently threatened, reports TimesLIVE:

Community members claimed the woman was pocketing from the illegal operations as she ran a tuck shop from a container outside her home where she sold food to the miners…

She narrowly escaped being attacked by the crowd when she collapsed during the confrontation, while her daughter quickly rushed to the scene and hurled insults at the mob.

The streets were littered with rocks and police were seen clashing with residents:

For a community that says it has long suffered at the hands of illegal miners, they have reached breaking point.

Ineffective or nonexistent policing has led to a situation where taking matters into their own hands seems like the only way to make their community safer.

Sadly, as we saw in Cape Town recently, innocent parties will likely become caught up in the violence.

[sources:news24&timeslive]