Necklacings, anyone?
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Friday, 20 July 2012
Necklacing
Just for interests sake — Necklacing is the practice of summary execution and torture carried out by forcing a rubber tyre, filled with petrol, around a victim's chest and arms, and setting it on fire. The victim may take up to 20 minutes to die, suffering severe burns in the process.
In South Africa
The practice became a common method of lethal lynching during disturbances in South Africa in the 1980s and 1990s. The first recorded instance took place in Uitenhage on 23 March 1985 when African National Congress (ANC) supporters killed a councillor who was accused of being a collaborator. [1]
Necklacing "sentences" were sometimes handed down against alleged criminals by "people's courts" established in black townships as a means of enforcing their own judicial system. Necklacing was also used to punish members of the black community who were perceived as collaborators with the government. These included black policemen, town councillors and others, as well as their relatives and associates. The practice was often carried out in the name of the ANC, and Winnie Mandela, then-wife of the imprisoned Nelson Mandela and a senior member of the ANC, even made statements that endorsed its use. [2]
The first victim of necklacing, according to the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, was a young girl, Maki Skosana, in July 1985. [4]
| “ | Moloko said her sister was burned to death with a tyre around her neck while attending the funeral of one of the youths.
Her body had been scorched by fire and some broken pieces of glass had been inserted into her vagina, Moloko told the committee.
Moloko added that a big rock had been thrown on her face after she had been killed. [5]
| ” |
Photojournalist Kevin Carter was the first to photograph a public execution by necklacing in South Africa in the mid-1980s. He later spoke of the images
| “ | I was appalled at what they were doing. I was appalled at what I was doing. But then people started talking about those pictures... then I felt that maybe my actions hadn't been at all bad. Being a witness to something this horrible wasn't necessarily such a bad thing to do. [6] | ” |
He went on to say:
| “ | After having seen so many necklacings on the news, it occurs to me that either many others were being performed (off camera as it were) and this was just the tip of the iceberg, or that the presence of the camera completed the last requirement, and acted as a catalyst in this terrible reaction. The strong message that was being sent, was only meaningful if it were carried by the media. It was not more about the warning (others) than about causing one person pain. The question that haunts me is 'would those people have been necklaced, if there was no media coverage?' | ” |
Necklacing returned to South Africa in 2008 when people turned against immigrants from the rest of Africa. The influx of immigrants led to violence, looting, and murder in some of South Africa’s poorest areas; this violence included necklace lynching. [7] This raised concerns that the latent practice might return once more as a form of public protest in the wake of service delivery failures by the ruling African National Congress (ANC). [8]
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