Mpumalanga police commissioner Lt-Gen Mondli Zuma has cautioned members of the community against taking the law into their own hands.

This warning comes after a man was burnt to death in an apparent act of mob justice at Marite, near Hazyview, on Saturday.

The incident is suspected to be retaliation by the community after the murder of a 13-year-old boy, whose body parts were found hidden in a fridge at the man’s house.

The boy went missing on Friday. The community immediately conducted a search and later discovered his body, with some missing body parts, in an open field near a dam in the area.

Two boys informed the community that they had earlier spotted the boy walking with the man, who is known there. The community then apparently hunted the man down, brutally assaulted him and set him alight. He died at the scene.

Police were alerted to the incident and upon arrival at the scene were attacked by the angry mob as they tried to quell the situation.

Zuma warned community members to stop taking the law into their own hands. He urged people to report criminal acts to the police and let the law take its course. 

“Vigilantism will not be tolerated nor accepted as a way of dealing with crime. Anyone found to have participated in such acts will be arrested and face the full might of the law,” he said.