Watch out troublemakers, 'cause UB students have taken the law into their own hands

These past few days have been eventful ones for the students of University of Botswana (UB). There have been three robberies on campus. One of the thieves took the whole lock off of doors. All of the thefts resulted in mob chases and beatings of the thieves in questions. I believe that all three were caught, one even being chased miles off campus by dozens of students. Most recently last night about midnight, there was another theft in some other hostel on campus. The screaming woke me up, even though all of the commotion was half way across campus. Apparently the thief escaped into a car with some other men, where they tried to escape out the back gate, but found it closed. In desperation, they rammed the car into the gate hoping it would open, but it did not. So they ditched the car and tried to run, most of them escaping but one unlucky thief that was caught and beaten to a pulp. Students even set fire to the thieves' car, burning it to ashes. I heard that the mob wanted to kill him and could not be deterred by even the police (who are viewed as weak and ineffective), so were broken up by soldiers with tear gas. Here are some pictures (click for larger view):

I think there are a few reasons for this. But first, beating up pickpockets and thieves is a generally accepted cultural norm here. I have heard that at the bus station, if a pickpocket is caught he will desperately run towards the police station to turn himself in, rather than subject himself to the punishment of the mob's fists. In this case, the students are especially willing to punish thieves and deter future thefts themselves because of recent failures of police on campus. A few months ago, there was a dance on campus called, "The Freshers Ball." That night, there were lots of certain undesirables on campus going around and causing trouble, robbing people and raping women. Even right in front of everyone in the stadium where the ball was taking place, there were gangs of men raping women. When anyone tried to intervene, they were beaten off. So students called the police, but the police never came and the security guards on campus were not to be found. Because of their lack of response that night, the police have lost the trust of the students. Hopefully soon things will settle down, or at least those seeking to steal will go elsewhere for their prizes.