People die when the government does not act

The police did not help, so a community fed up with living in fear of criminals took the law into their own hands.

Manelisi Mngqengqiswa, whose brother Cebisile was among 11 people killed in apparent revenge attacks in the Marikana informal settlement in Cape Town, said residents had recently taken it upon themselves to start patrolling their streets and ridding their area of crime.

But on Friday night, gunmen believed to be linked to criminal gangs struck back.

A chilling WhatsApp message doing the rounds describes how the gunmen asked: "Where are the people who killed our friends?", an apparent reference to seven vigilante murders in Marikana on September 25.

It is war - but our government does not seem to think so. Calls for the army to be deployed to take control of the situation have fallen on deaf ears.

Politicians scrambled to show they suddenly cared, making meaningless visits to the area on Sunday and Monday.

Police Minister Fikile Mbalula's idea of taking action was to issue a statement expressing his "shock" at Friday night's murder spree.

"Police are mandated by the constitution to ensure safety and security of all persons and property.I therefore expect police to adhere to this mandate and find these murderers.

"Our people can't live in fear. Our kids deserve to grow up in a nonviolent society," he said.

How were the police adhering to this mandate when an entire community realised their only way out of a gang war was by taking it upon themselves to keep their families safe?

Vigilantism should not be a solution to spiralling crime, but any reasonable person can understand the desperation felt by those living in fear of criminals.

This community took action because the government did not.

WATCH | 'We don’t know who is killing us': Marikana residents live in fear