Dereleen James Concerned About Rise in Smash-and-Grab Crimes After Fatal Incident

• ActionSA Member of Parliament Dereleen James expressed concern about how South Africans react to violent crime
• She spoke after witnessing the aftermath of a smash-and-grab incident, which resulted in death
• James also said that although she did not condone violence, she understood the public’s sense of helplessness

Tebogo Mokwena, Briefly News’ Deputy Head of the Current Affairs desk, South Africa, covered a range of criminal activities, including cash-in-transit heists, kidnappings, taxi violence, shootings, police investigations, police shootouts, and court cases at Daily Sun for over three years.

PARLIAMENT, WESTERN CAPE— ActionSA Member of Parliament, Dereleen James, expressed concern at how members of the public respond to violent incidents. She remarked that the recent reaction to a shooting in Cape Town was a crisis.

According to Eyewitness News, James, a member of the Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Police and the Ad Hoc Committee investigating corruption in the justice system, said that violent murders have become norms that cannot be accepted. She observed that the response of the public to a recent smash-and-grab incident pointed to a deeper crisis of helplessness, hopelessness, and a lack of faith in the South African Police Service.

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Dereleen James on violent incidents

James referred to the smash-and-grab incident in which a suspect fled following a smash-and-grab. The motorist opened fire and fatally shot the suspect. She said that communities are increasingly losing faith in the justice system. James added that calls to police stations take hours to respond, and communities take the law into their own hands out of frustration. She emphasised, though, that she did not condone acts of mob justice.

James shared her experiences of the extent of desensitisation to violence in South African society. She said that she saw a body lying on the road while driving on Jakes Gerwel Drive, where the shooting took place. The MP was shocked that a group of children was playing around the body.

She said that the behaviour exhibited by the children was not meant to be the norm. She also questioned whether spending millions on barrier infrastructure, as proposed by Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, would address the root causes of crime. She asked how many walls would have to be built to curb crime.

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3 Briefly News articles about mob justice

• Members of a community in Khayelitsha killed two men who were accused of raping and murdering a 22-year-old woman on 8 November 2025. Two days later, members of the community apprehended the men and burned them alive, allegedly because of frustrations with the justice system.
• Two suspects were arrested in Polokwane, Limpopo, after a 47-year-old man was fatally stabbed on 13 January 2026. The suspects reportedly lured the victim under the pretext of discussing business before killing him.
• A Zimbabwean man was a victim of mob justice after he was killed in Lefara Village in Limpopo on 20 January 2026. The man faced accusations of theft, and police officers responded to reports of the attack taking place. He died from his injuries.

Source: Briefly News