Crime in the rural areas has been growing exponentially. Libode is one of the rural towns that has a notably high crime rate with very high contact crimes reported. Furthermore, there are many other incidents that go unreported to the police but are dealt with by the communities themselves. The incidents of crime that have been taking place in village of Norwood, Misty Mount in Libode are a demonstration of how much more common crime is becoming and the ways in which communities address crime in the absence of the police.
It has been a very busy time for amaphara (petty thieves [almost always young men] who are addicted to drugs and steal to fund their dependency) in Norwood Misty Mount, which has created a lot of work for the local Community Police Forum (these are community groups who liase between communities and police, sometimes taking control of crime scenes, gathering information, and retaining caught criminals until formal police arrive). For instance, this month saw two house break-ins and two sheep stolen within days of each other. The suspected culprits in all three of these cases are young men from this very community who use the drug known as tsuf (crystal meth). I briefly summarize these events below.
Dhlamini House Break-in
Community Police Forum members together with the Headwoman of Norwood rushed to the Dhlamini home in the morning when word of a break-in came. During the early hours of the morning three young men broke into one of the houses in the Dhlamini homestead and took a television and sound system. They left a broken window and door which indicated forced entry by the criminals. The Dhlamini home has four houses in the yard and upon entering the gate there is a rondavel which is mainly used during traditional ceremonies but also operates as a store room for day to day items. Next to it is a four-corner house where there is the kitchen and living area used daily for cooking and welcoming people. There is also a bigger house where the bedrooms are located. Further from the gate is the smaller house with the lounge where there is the sitting room with a television and sound system.
The culprits seem to have entered through the window and then proceeded to break the door from the inside in order to escape with the items that they stole. Mr and Mrs Dhlamini were woken up by strange noises in the early hours of the mornin, but by the time they got outside to check what was going on the culprits had finished what they were doing and were running away. The Dlaminis say they saw three young men running off at a distance carrying something big that they could not identify. When they looked around their yard they noticed the door of the house on the far right was open. Upon close inspection they saw that it had been broken into and the television and sound system were gone. They immediately started spreading the word about what had happened. Mr Dhlamini rushed to the Headwoman’s home to report what had just happened. They proceeded to call the rest of the traditional committee that the Headwoman works with, as well as the Community Police Forum and everyone rushed to the Dhlamini home. Other community members nearby who received word of what had happened also rushed to the Dhlamini home. Some CPF and community members took to the village in search of the three young men who were seen fleeing the scene but were not successful. The police were called as well.
Bhele television theft
Not very long after the break-in at the Dhlamini home, there was another incident of theft. This time it was at the Bhele home (pseudonym). The oldest son of the Bhele home went to the headwoman to report that the house was broken into and his newly bought television was stolen. The incident happened in a very similar fashion as the break-in that had happened at the Dhlamini home about a week prior. The difference was that the break-in at Bhele’s house happened during the day. Bhele reported that the incident happened while he was at work. He had gone to work in the morning as he always does, but when he returned that afternoon he found the door to his room had been broken open and his television set was missing.
Interestingly, Bhele (a pseudonym for the eldest son of the Bhele family) had very strong suspicions about who might have done this. The suspicion ended up being confirmed when the CPF and community members got involved and did some investigating. It turned out that Bhele’s younger, brother who is iphara [singular of amaphara], together with two other friends, were the culprits. Bhele had communicated to everyone that he suspects that his brother may have had something to do with this because he uses the popular drug tsuf and hangs out with others who do so too. In the days leading up to the break-in he had not seen his brother at home. This was not unusual in itself, because the younger brother often disappears for days at a time when he goes on a heavy drug bender. The reason Bhele suspected his brother is that on the day of the break-in Bhele had seen his brother in the area when he left that morning, and thought to himself that his brother is probably re-appearing because he must have run out of drugs.
Bhele, together with a few CPF and community members, went in search of Bhele’s brother. Upon finding him, he was interrogated and beaten until he confessed to the break-in and told them where he and his friends had taken the television set. According to Bhele’s brother he and two of his friends had broken into Bhele’s room and stolen the television in order to sell it to a drug supplier in Mthatha. Apparently, there is a substance in televisions that is used in the making of the drugs. He continued to say that they are guaranteed to make money from the television so they can buy more drugs. Indeed, this was the case with Bhele’s television. When his brother told them whom they had sold the television to, Bhele went to look for the place in Mthatha and found the television. Unfortunately, by the time they arrived to retrieve the stolen television it had been broken and undone in order to get the substance inside it which they use to make the drugs. Bhele took the television with him as evidence. The search for the two other young men who had stolen the television still continues.
Jola Stock Theft
The day after Bhele reported the break-in and theft in his home, Tat’ uJola (pseudonym) came to the headwoman’s home to report an ongoing conflict that he was having with his neighbour MaKhwalo (pseudonym) over the theft of two of his sheep. Jola, who is an enthusiastic sheep farmer in the community, had recently lost two sheep from his flock. He spent some time searching for the sheep and inquiring in the community until he noticed one of the sheep in his neighbour, MaKhwalo’s flock. He approached MaKhwalo about the matter but was met with defensiveness and hostility. Upon further investigation Jola received word that his two sheep were in fact stolen by MaKhwalo’s two sons together with another boy whose identity is not known.
Apparently, the boys probably stole the sheep in a state of being high. They proceeded to slaughter one, with the intention of eating it. When Makhwalo returned from work and discovered what was going on, she did not report or reprimand her sons. Instead she became an accomplice. According to Jola’s sources, when MaKhwalo returned while her sons were in the process of slaughtering the sheep, she feigned ignorance about where and how the sheep came to be in her home. They then ate some of the sheep: braised some of the meat, cooked the tripe and stored the rest in the fridge to cook it for their family meals. When Jola returned to confront MaKhwalo with this newly found intel he discovered that indeed there was evidence of a sheep skin indicating that there had been slaughtered and indeed there was a half of a sheep that was butchered and stored in the fridge.
Without an explanation or defence, MaKhwalo basically admitted to what her sons had done. She stated that sheep are stolen all the time and, she too has been a victim of stock theft numerous times as well so, this was some kind of retribution for her. This angered Jola even more. He then took the one sheep that was still with Makhwalo’s flock back and went to report the matter to the Headwoman. He explained everything that had happened and what he had found out and demanded that MaKhwalo pay him a sum of R2000 which is the value of the sheep that MaKhwalo’s sons slaughtered and she be fined by the traditional court another R2000. The Headwoman and the traditional committee agreed that Jola’s demands were just and reasonable. MaKhwalo did not protest the judgement against her and agreed that she would pay the sum of R4000 but would not be able to pay it all at once.
This frustrated Jola and he told the traditional authorities and MaKhwalo that he would not accept payment in installments because he cannot trust that Makhwalo will pay timeously and effectively. He told them that he is going to Makhwalo’s kraal and taking a sheep of his choosing that he feels is of equal value to the sheep of his that was slaughtered. Nobody protested against Jola’s assertion although he was not exactly asking for permission when he told them what he was going to do. MaKhwalo was then left to pay the R2000 fine for the theft.
Figure 1: Police visting a woman's house in Misty Mount to investigate a recent break-in (Taken by Tandokazi, July 2024)
Conclusion
The way in which these incidents of crime in Norwood, Misty Mount are dealt with tells us a few things about who criminals are to the community and the relationship that the community has with law enforcement as well as the kind of measures of justice available to the community. Firstly, in all three of the incidents narrated above, the criminals committing the break-ins and theft are the youth of this community. Furthermore, they are family to the victims of these crimes as is the situation in Bhele’s case or family to other community members (neighbours) as is the case with Jola and MaKhwalo’s sons. This is a departure from crimes of the past, and shows how the presence of hard drugs in rural villages is creating conflict, strife, and antagonism in rural households.
Secondly, the scarcity of police presence in the process of investigating and administering justice is obvious. When the break in at the Dhlamini home happened, the police did not show up until later that afternoon. In many other instances they do not show up at all. This is part of the reason why the traditional house (Headwoman and the committee) play such a central role in responding to crime in the community. The traditional authorities are the first port of call when incidents occur. Thirdly, it is unignorable that crime is addressed by community members and the Community Police Forum. This can open the door to vigilantism and mob justice, as Community Police Forums can and do mobilize their status as community-police liasons to mete out punishments as they see fit. This is shown, for instance, in the example of Bhele and the Community Police Forum joining together to hunt down Bhele’s brother and beating him to answers, or when Jola decided for himself that he would take a sheep from MaKhwalo’s kraal. While some might disapprove of the methods used by victims and community members, in the current context villagers rarely access any kind of justice by waiting for formal authorities to act, hencing taking the law into their own hands.
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