The rising tide of mob killings, euphemistically referred to as “mob justice”, is cause for concern. Recently, eight men were killed and another critically injured in an alleged mob justice incident in Zandspruit informal settlement, west of Johannesburg. The men were also burnt before they succumbed to their injuries.

Then two men were also killed in the informal settlement of Qalabusha in Daveyton, on the East Rand. One of the victims was left for dead after being attacked with electric cables, iron rods and stones and had to be admitted to the intensive care unit. In a bone-chilling act of savagery, the victim was brought before his mother where they continued to brutalise him, claiming that they wanted to kill him in front of his mother...