Pretoria - Nine months after his own community viciously attacked and burnt his belongings, the man formerly accused of being a serial killer has been left struggling to get by, with no one to help him.
Caiphus Nemavhadwa was attacked by Mamelodi residents after being suspected of being the serial killer operating in their midst, disguised as a taxi driver. This, after the bodies of three women surfaced within weeks.
Nemavhadwa, who was actually a truck driver, said he was appalled at how government officials failed to react to assist his family as they did with the murder victims.
“We left that incident with nothing but the clothes on our bodies and have had to survive on my wife’s small salary of R2 100 for a family of six,” he said.
“I have been struggling to get another job since this incident happened because my face and name have been marked with the words ‘serial killer’ every time you search for it on the internet,” he said.
Nemavhadwa said he was also not pleased with the conduct of the police on that fateful day in September when the community attacked him.
He said a police officer stood by his doorway as the crowd started jumping over his fence throwing stones at his home. The officer allegedly took him by the arm and tried to pull him outside, but he refused fearing the community would overpower the officer.
Nemavhadwa said the police led the mob to his home and then simply stood by while he was attacked, despite having taken him in earlier and being unable to link him to any of the murders.
His wife Christina said what hurt her most was that no one from the Chauke family, related to murder victim Katlego Ndlovu, 23, had tried to apologise for what had happened to them.
“I can imagine what she is going through as a mother having lost her daughter, because I am a mother too. But could she not put herself in the shoes of my children who now barely have anything to wear or eat because of these false accusations? Our family is now scattered as we could not afford to stay with all four of our children here,” she said.
“The national commissioner of police Riah Phiyega even went to visit all those families consoling them and offering a R10 000 reward to the community to help find the killer, but what about us? How come no one from the police, or the mayor’s office is coming to help, comfort and assure us that those responsible (for taking the law into their own hands) will be caught?” asked Christina.
Police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Dlamini Lungelo said a case of malicious damage to property had been opened after Nemavhadwa was attacked by the mob and that he hadn’t been linked to any murders.
Mayoral spokesman Blessing Manale said they regretted not knowing the social conditions of the family, especially after the community harmed the wrong people. “The mayor can only support the family if the due legal process is followed by opening a case with the SAPS. This will allow the family to sue the perpetrators for malicious damage to property,” he said.
“The onus is not on the mayor to interfere while the process is under investigation. It may send the wrong message to the public. We have never received an official request for assistance from the family,” said Manale.
Dr Johan Burger, from the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), said it was unlikely that victims of mob justice could ever hope to be reintegrated into the same community after such an incident.
“If people manage to survive a mob justice attack with their lives, they are lucky. The community, when attacking the people, has already pre-judged and decided on their fate. It’s a psychological thing that people incite and convince each other of the other’s guilt,” he said.
Burger said often the preconceived guilt will remain within the community.
Pretoria News