Cape Town – The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) says it will visit the family of a Zimbabwean man who was allegedly stoned and burnt to death overnight on Wednesday in Diepsloot.
The man, identified as Elvis Nyathi, was set alight just hours after Police Minister Bheki Cele and the police’s top brass visited the area.
According to SABC, police confirmed the incident.
“I can confirm that overnight there was an incident of mob justice. Reports that we’re getting from witnesses is that there’s a small group of people that went from door to door and then when they got to this house, this young man just ran out of the house and they chased him and unfortunately he was killed.”
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“As soon as the police got that information, they rushed to the scene but when they got there, the people had already been dispersed. At this stage, we cannot confirm the nationality of the deceased,” the report quoted police spokesperson Brenda Muridili as saying
Residents of Diepsloot recently embarked on a protest over the high crime levels and the local police’s inaction.
In a statement on EFF national spokesperson Sinawo Tambo said that his party was dismayed and saddened by the painful news.
“The painful images which are populating SA television screens today are the ashes of what was once a human being, who was burnt alive simply because he could not provide a passport to individuals who have taken the law into their own hands.
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“The EFF has long warned that if the various groups mushrooming on the anti-immigration ticket are not stopped, it will end in a loss of life. It is unfortunate that in this instance, we have been proven correct,” Tambo said.
He added: “These vigilante groups attribute all crimes in this country to foreign nationals, without any scientific or crime statistics to corroborate their claims. As a result, it has become a syndicate that extorts people, hijacks houses, loots African-owned retail outlets, burns the stores of Africans and today burns a human being to ashes.
EFF Statement On The Murder And Torching Of Elvis Nyathi In Diepsloot, Johannesburg pic.twitter.com/MK95V4Sq3M
— Economic Freedom Fighters (@EFFSouthAfrica) April 7, 2022
“These are the consequences of endorsing and sponsoring vigilante groups by popular media and the ruling party itself, which seeks to scapegoat its inability to fight crime, create jobs and provide adequate health care to foreign nationals.”
Meanwhile, News24 said that Cele promised the community that at least 30 members of the Tactical Response Team and Public Order Policing would be deployed to the area.
“The new national commissioner will bring 10 police vehicles from tonight, and the province will bring six more. This means that in the next 24 hours, the station will have 16 new cars,” he said.
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