WATCH: Community neutralise two suspects after they were caught terrorising community members in Tembisa.

Johannesburg, September 25, 2025 – South Africa continues to grapple with a surge in mob justice incidents, where communities resort to extrajudicial punishments amid widespread distrust in law enforcement. According to South African Police Service (SAPS) data, 1,894 murders in 2022—approximately 7% of the country's total 27,000 recorded homicides—were attributed to mob justice and vigilantism, more than double the figure from five years earlier. In the first nine months of 2023, an additional 1,472 such deaths were registered. A May 2025 SAPS crime statistics release reported 319 fatalities from vigilantism in the preceding period, highlighting the need for community education to address the trend.

Recent incidents underscore the persistence of this phenomenon. On August 27, 2025, in Barberton, Mpumalanga, two men accused of house robberies were assaulted and set alight with vehicle tyres by community members. Their bodies were discovered at separate locations: one at Barberton Extension and the other at Extension 13 sports ground. Police investigations into the killings are ongoing.

In Limpopo province, a foreign national was brutally murdered in a vigilante attack around the same time, prompting police to issue warnings to communities against such actions. Earlier, on September 9, 2025, in Maake, Limpopo, a mob justice incident led to a murder charge against ten suspects, who were scheduled to appear in Phuthaditjhaba Magistrate's Court. That same day in Saselamani, also in Limpopo, a 34-year-old woman was arrested in connection with an alleged mob justice assault and is set to appear in Malamulele Magistrate's Court.

These cases reflect a broader pattern documented between 2019 and 2022, during which 1,202 killings were linked to mob justice nationwide, including 746 in 2021 alone. In the first three months of 2025, at least 12 individuals were killed in vigilante attacks, contributing to over 1,000 mob justice deaths and 781 severe injuries reported by December 2024. Historical data from the 2020/21 financial year recorded 1,350 murders ascribed to vigilantism.

A prominent example of organized vigilantism is Operation Dudula, an anti-immigrant group accused of multiple violent actions against foreign nationals. On August 14, 2025, members blocked access to public healthcare facilities, conducting illegal ID checks and preventing immigrants from receiving treatment, in violation of constitutional rights to healthcare.

The Democratic Alliance called for public order police intervention on August 12, 2025, following disruptions at health facilities. By late September 2025, the group shifted focus to schools, demanding prioritization of South African pupils over foreign nationals and announcing plans to target educational institutions when they reopen in 2026. On July 30, 2025, Operation Dudula conducted raids on abandoned buildings, and on July 18, 2025, it led a march to the Socio-Economic Rights Institute offices in Braamfontein. On September 17, 2025, parliamentary concerns arose over the group's activities near healthcare centers, described as risky and illegal.

Xenophobic elements have fueled similar outbreaks, such as an angry mob chasing foreigners in Katlehong township, as reported in 2024 coverage of ongoing tensions. The Zandspruit massacre on May 19, 2021, saw four men killed and five critically injured in a mob attack in an informal settlement near Johannesburg, with victims found bound and charred. During the July 2021 unrest, additional killings occurred amid widespread vigilantism.

SAPS and experts attribute the rise to factors including poverty, low prosecution rates—only 12% of murder cases lead to convictions—and inadequate police response in high-crime areas like townships and informal settlements. A 2018 Afrobarometer survey indicated 66% of South Africans lack trust in police and courts. In a January 2023 incident cited in a 2025 court case, officers responded to a mob justice report while on patrol in Gauteng.