EDITORIAL: Njombe mob justice should be stopped
What started out as wanton killings of otherwise innocent children in Njombe Region a few weeks ago has taken a new turn that is even more tragic.
The sporadic killings started around November last year and, so far, 11 children are known to have been killed and mutilated in most brutal ways, with some of their body parts chopped off, while others have gone missing for days.
The murderers have been targeting under-teen children, including kindergarten and primary school pupils on their way to or from school, or as they were playing outdoors.
The general feeling is that this is the work of a very few persons greedy for instant wealth which, they wrongly think, can be obtained through underhand witchcraft malpractices.
But, the heinous perpetrators have so far not been identified, although a dozen or so suspects have been taken into police custody, while investigations are ongoing.
As if all that were not bad enough in a country that is long-renowned for political stability and comradeliness, the situation has taken a turn for the worse. Incensed locals have resorted to ‘virtual lynching’ of strangers in their home areas regardless, suspecting them of committing the atrocities. At least one stranger was killed, and three others seriously wounded, in Magunguli Village in Mufindi District.
This should not be countenanced in a democratic country that champions human rights and the rule of law.
In the event, the relevant government institutions should redouble and otherwise intensify efforts to end the child killings by identifying the killers and taking judicial punitive measures against them to deter repeats. This would also automatically end the killings-related lynching by irate mobs. Thereafter, civic education should be imparted upon the citizenry in so far as it relates to beliefs, commitments, capabilities and actions as members of the Tanzanian community as a whole.
