Mob Justice

So Tanzania is a fascinating country in a lot of ways.  Unfortunately it still has its problems.  Though I have not observed it myself, I’ve been told that there is some corruption within the police forces here.  As a result of this, reporting things to the police takes a lot of patience, time, and likely not having the problem solved ever.  As such, many people take matters into their own hands.

            This has resulted in mob justice, in particular in connection with theft.  The word for thief in Kiswahili is “Mwizi,” is one of the first words us PCVs learned, and is one word you never ever want to shout out.  It will potentially result in someone losing his/her life.

            So let me explain.  Because the police may not act, people will step in to correct the problem.  If someone steals your phone/wallet/camera and you shout out “Mwizi!” people will chase after that thief.  The thief will at least be beaten.  If they’re lucky, that will be it.  Often times people will kill the thief.  So when Peace Corps warned us not to shout out “Mwizi,” they emphasized that someone will most likely die for your camera/wallet/phone.  Don’t even say the word in jest, as it will be taken seriously.  PC asked us to consider if that item is worth someone losing their life.  Regardless of what your opinion is (whether mob justice is a good or bad thing), it’s something that we have to keep in mind here.  I personally would rather lose my $200 camera than someone die for it.

            This idea of mob justice is so strong that one of the English textbooks I was looking at had an entire story about a student’s phone getting stolen.  Within the story, they actually describe the thief’s eye getting gauged out with a knife.  Yeah, this is a story that they have students read! 

            Though there are definitely some great parts of communal culture, this is one that I hope I don’t witness personally.  People watching out for each other is great, but I also am someone who doesn’t like people dying for material objects.  So I think I’ll just be smart and keep my valuables in safe places and hopefully never be in that situation!