Three men stoned, burnt to death in alleged Limpopo mob attack

Limpopo police are searching for a group of suspects who killed three people in a suspected vigilante attack in Mphephu outside Thohoyandou, Limpopo, on Saturday morning.

Police said the attack followed the death of a 22-year-old man who was found “lying dead in a pool of blood” after a fight broke out at a beer hall in Ha-Mulelu village.

“Subsequent to this death, members of the community mobilised each other and started hunting down those who are accused in the killing of this person until they captured three of them.

“They took them back to the spot where this person was killed, stoned them and burned all of them to death,” police said.

They added that they were still trying to identify the three victims and that four cases of murder had been opened for further police investigations.

“The suspects involved in this incident are still unknown and there is no arrest yet.”

Limpopo police commissioner Lt-Gen Nneke Ledwaba condemned what he referred to as “the recurring incidents of mob attacks and killings that are still prevalent in some parts of the province”.

“Members of community are warned to refrain from taking the law into their own hands. The police must be given a space to deal with any criminal act without them resorting to violence which is totally uncalled for,” Ledwaba said.