The family of Vusimuzi Radebe is demanding answers after he was allegedly beaten to death by community members in Lynnville, Mpumalanga, after being questioned about his links to Kempton Park, Gauteng.
Radebe was reportedly walking home from his grandmother’s house in KwaGuqa to Lynnville on Saturday, September 19, when he was stopped and questioned by community members about where he lived and where he had come from.
According to the Radebe and Mathobela families, Radebe told those who stopped him that he had previously lived in Kempton Park and had been visiting his grandmother in KwaGuqa.
The family believes the mention of Kempton Park may have fuelled suspicions because of a series of killings of women recently reported in the area. They allege that instead of establishing whether Radebe had any connection to the killings, the group assaulted him. He died at the scene.
“Because of the recent violence in Kempton Park, assumptions were made about him. Instead of establishing the truth, Vusi was brutally beaten and murdered – he died on the scene,” the family said in a statement.
The family described Radebe as a quiet person who did not speak much and said he was simply making his way home when the attack occurred. “He was simply walking home. He was a human being – someone’s son, grandson and loved one,” the family said.
Mpumalanga police have opened a murder case and launched a manhunt for those responsible for the attack. Police spokesperson Colonel Mavela Masondo confirmed that officers responded to a reported mob-justice incident in Lynnville.
When police arrived at the scene, they found Radebe lying on the ground with visible injuries. Emergency medical personnel were called to the scene, but he was pronounced dead.
Masondo said the circumstances surrounding the attack were still being investigated.
“The motive for the attack cannot be confirmed at this stage and forms part of the ongoing investigation,” he said.
The provincial commissioner of the South African Police Service in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant-General Apaphia Modise, condemned the attack and said police resources had been mobilised to identify and arrest those responsible.
“Taking the law into your own hands is a serious criminal offence and will never be tolerated,” Modise said.
Police have urged members of the public with information about the attack to come forward.
For Radebe’s family, the circumstances surrounding his death remain difficult to understand.
The family said his parents had returned to eMalahleni after retirement and were staying in Lynnville. Radebe had been visiting his grandmother in KwaGuqa before setting off for home.
The family said they became concerned when he failed to return home. According to a family member, his father eventually went to the police to report him missing. The family was informed of his death the following day.
Moreover, Radebe’s family has questioned why he was treated as though he was connected to the Kempton Park killings without, they say, any evidence being established.
They are now appealing to anyone who may have seen Radebe travelling from KwaGuqa towards Lynnville on the afternoon of September 19, or who witnessed the attack, to come forward.
The family can be contacted on 071 357 0950 or 069 323 2712.
Radebe’s death comes against the backdrop of heightened concern over a series of killings involving women in and around Kempton Park and other parts of Ekurhuleni. Police have been investigating the deaths and have not confirmed that all of the cases are linked or that they were committed by a single perpetrator.
The developments have nevertheless heightened fear in some communities, with residents demanding answers and increased police visibility. The circumstances surrounding Radebe’s death demonstrate the dangers of acting on unverified suspicions.
South African Police Service crime statistics show that vigilantism and mob justice remain significant contributors to murder in parts of the country. In the 2023/24 financial year, SAPS identified mob justice and vigilantism as the leading causative factor for murders in Mpumalanga.
More recent SAPS figures also recorded vigilantism and mob justice among the major identified causes of murder nationally. Between January and March 2026, 299 murders were attributed to vigilantism and mob justice, according to crime statistics reported by GroundUp from the SAPS release.
For Radebe’s family, however, the statistics do little to answer the central question surrounding his death: why was he attacked?
They are now waiting for investigators to establish what happened during his final journey home and for those responsible to be identified.
The police investigation remains ongoing.
