The Postmasburg police are investigating a murder case after a 20-year-old man died in hospital after being attacked by an angry mob in Newton, Postmasburg.
THE POSTMASBURG police are investigating a murder case after a 20-year-old man died in hospital after being attacked by an angry mob in Newton, Postmasburg.
The deceased was implicated in the fatal stabbing of a well-known and loved community member, Gladwin Bele, 29, not far from his home on Saturday, September 16.
Bele died in hospital after suffering multiple stab wounds.
It is believed that Bele, who worked at one of the local mines, was in his street trying to give directions to a delivery truck when he was accosted by his killer/s.
After being stabbed, Bele ran to a neighbour’s house and they managed to rush him to hospital. He succumbed to his injuries in hospital.
Northern Cape police spokesperson Sergeant Molefi Shemane said the apparent mob justice attack happened while the police were busy investigating Bele’s murder.
“While the investigating officers were busy tracking and tracing witnesses to obtain statements in order to link the suspect to the murder scene, members of the community revolted and badly assaulted the 20-year-old suspect. The victim was taken to hospital and later succumbed to his injuries. A case of murder is under investigation,” said Shemane.
He added that five community members sustained injuries during the incident.
Shemane said that the Public Order Police (POP) have been deployed in the area and that no arrests have been made yet.
The police have also requested the public’s assistance with information that may lead to the apprehension and arrest of the mob justice suspects and the investigation of the case.
The Northern Cape provincial commissioner, Lieutenant-General Koliswa Otola, strongly condemned the “senseless” attack.
Otola warned that mob justice is not a solution and will not be tolerated. She warned that those arrested will face the full might of the law.
“Mob justice or vigilantism is tantamount to crime. The communities are supposed to be the eyes and ears of the police and are required to report criminals to the police for further action and not to be a law themselves,” said Otola.
Angry Postmasburg community members have meanwhile blamed the local police and the MEC for Transport, Safety and Liaison, Nomandla Bloem, for pushing them to take matters into their own hands and for acting against criminals.
They said they are “sick and tired of being ignored” when they ask for intervention regarding the escalating crime levels in their town.
They also blame the department for failing to empower and equip the local police station with resources.
The community members further complained that the elected Community Policing Forum (CPF) was not visible and was not building a relationship with the community.
Many said that the 20-year-old murder accused was attacked because people were frustrated by the rising level of crime and the apparent lack of action by the authorities.
They described Bele as a quiet, respectful and disciplined community member.
This is not the first incident where the local community has decided to “stand up for themselves” and “restore safety” in the mining town.
Community members “took a stand” in the fight against drugs last year and destroyed and burnt down the shacks of suspected drug dealers, many of whom were foreigners.
The community members said that the local police station is under-resourced and that their town is “drowning in crime” because of this.
One of the community members said that whenever the police are called out, they either don’t arrive or if arrests are made, the criminals are back roaming the streets not long after.
She added that MEC Bloem had called for calm during a local imbizo, where she committed to keeping the streets safe and improving the police station, but she never delivered on her promise.
Another community member said that attention is only placed on resourcing police stations in smaller towns while growing towns like Postmasburg are being overlooked.
“The SAPS is painting a rosy picture during the release of the crime stats, while the real crime-fighting issues are being ignored,” she said.
“The officials at police stations in smaller towns sleep on the job, go shopping during working hours and abuse state resources, while they could be put to good use to do what they get paid to do in a town like ours.
“Our police station is only mentioned among the poor performing stations.”
The leader of the Safe Tsantsabane Coalition (STC), Michael Mabilo, stated that the Postmasburg station is being run by a captain while smaller stations are being run by higher-ranking officers and receive more resources.
Mabilo said that it should be noted that if a station is under the leadership of a lower-ranking officer, it automatically means less resources and less staff.
“Postmansburg already has nearby mining towns falling under it like Maremane, Skeifontein, Groenwater and Glenhaven,” said Mabilo.
“The MEC is aware of our situation and that is why the community gets frustrated – because they are tired of complaining and nothing is being done about the issues.
“The MEC for Safety continues to fail the people of Postmasburg while the challenges are known to them, but they decide to ignore everything.
“Our police station is not well-resourced and there are not enough police officers.”
MEC Bloem has meanwhile expressed concern that members of the community are taking the law into their own hands.
Bloem added that this is a situation that should not be encouraged.
“We can understand that people are impatient and angry, but we must refrain from becoming perpetrators of violence ourselves and rather promote stronger collaborative and supportive working relationships with the police through community policing structures,” she said.
The MEC added that several programmes and operations by different parties have already yielded success following the unrest in the area.
She made a commitment that further community engagements are planned for Friday.
Northern Cape police spokesperson Brigadier Mashay Gamieldien said that the SAPS provincial management is aware of the situation in Postmasburg and the concerns raised regarding personnel.
“There is no shortage according to the fixed establishment, but the population has outgrown the policing capacity of the station. The station is under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Mouton, who has been recently appointed, and is being assisted by the provincial and district offices with additional manpower to assist during crime-prevention operations,” said Gamieldien.
“The station also recently received three new constables. However, it must be noted that Postmasburg has grown due to the continuous growth of the mining industry in the area, which has also resulted in additional policing challenges that are being addressed.
“Since the commencement of Operation Shanela, numerous high-density police actions have been executed to address and stabilise the crime situation. However, despite these actions, police vehicles were recently pelted with stones and damaged by members of the community.”
Gamieldien said that in regard to the recent incidents in Postmasburg, the police “cannot divulge information as the case is pending and the investigation is in progress”.
She added, however, that the provincial commissioner, Lieutenant-General Koliswa Otola, “strongly condemned” the actions of the community and urged them to refrain from taking the law into their own hands and to instead work in partnership with the police to fight crime collectively.
At the time of publication, the police confirmed that a 23-year-old suspect was arrested on Thursday morning in connection with the stabbing of Bele.
Shemane could, however, not confirm whether this was the only suspect that the police were looking for in connection with Bele’s murder.
No arrests had been made in connection with the mob justice attack.
