Cape Town – President Cyril Ramaphosa has denounced the ongoing violence in Diepsloot, north of Johannesburg, saying that his government will not condone any form of criminality.
Ramaphosa said this following the death of a man identified as Elvis Nyathi from Zimbabwe.
Nyathi was allegedly stoned and set alight by a mob in Diepsloot on Wednesday night.
Police confirmed the incident.
ALSO READ | Zimbabwean man ‘set alight and killed’ in overnight mob attack in Diepsloot
“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.
“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,” SABC quoted police spokesperson Brenda Muridili as saying
President Cyril Ramaphosa says government is keeping a close eye in #Diepsloot and engaging with various members of the community.
“We will not condone any form of criminality which results in the death of anyone, it is not acceptable and we will take action to deal with it.” pic.twitter.com/pS0atdai3T
— @SAgovnews (@SAgovnews) April 7, 2022
The incident occurred just hours after Police Minister Bheki Cele and the police’s top brass visited the area.
Ramaphosa said on Thursday that any form of criminality was not acceptable.
“The minister (Bheki Cele) was there yesterday and he helped calm the situation. We are continuing to keep a very close eye and also engaging with various members of the community because we don’t want that situation to turn into an ugly one.
“…We will not condone any criminality. Any form of criminality which results in the death of anyone is not acceptable and we will take action to deal with it,” said Ramaphosa.
The president was speaking on the sidelines of the 2022 Heads of Mission Conference in Pretoria.
Earlier, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) said in a statement that it was dismayed and saddened by the painful news of the death of Nyathi.
ALSO READ | EFF to visit family of Zimbabwean man killed in Diepsloot mob attack
“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,” the EFF said.
According to Times Live, on Wednesday, hundreds of community members took to the streets to protest against crime and negligent policing of immigration laws. The community threatened to shut down the township after widespread crime in the past few months and a murder at the weekend of a man in his 20s who was shot dead during a robbery.
News24 said that Cele had since 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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