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VIGILANTES BURN RULE OF LAW

SOUTH AFRICA is a democratic country where the rule of law ought to be respected and upheld.

None of its citizens have the right to take the law into their own hands by meting out instant justice against people suspected of criminal acts – and nogal using the deplorable necklace method.

The killing of three criminal suspects by enraged mobs in separate incidents at Diepsloot near Johannesburg and Mmakau in North West at the weekend was appalling.

The victims were two suspected robbers in Diepsloot and a feared man in Mmakau.

These horrific deaths must be condemned in the strongest terms.

There are laws in this country that deal with suspected criminals. They are arrested, tried in a court of law and jailed if convicted.

The angry mobs had no legal right to carry out the grisly deeds without even affording the victims a day in court to defend the allegations. They should hang their heads in shame. What they did was barbaric.

The police must intensify their search and haul the culprits before court where they will get the justice they denied the three helpless victims.

Sowetan, February 27, 2007