IN MY VIEW | Mob justice: Where communities become courts and children pay the price

In many communities across SA, mob justice has become a frightening and increasingly normal response to crime. In places such as Kwazakhele, frustration over theft, drug-related crime, housebreaking, robbery and violence has reached dangerous levels. Families feel abandoned by a criminal justice system that often appears too slow, too weak, or too distant.

Yet despite this anger, we must ask ourselves an important question: when a community beats a child or young person nearly to death, who has truly won? Recently, a young boy of about 17 years old was brutally assaulted by a mob in Kwazakhele. His injuries may have lifelong effects on his ability to think, learn, communicate and function normally. But when a crowd becomes judge, jury and executioner, we create even greater harm.