Necklacing is the practice of extrajudicial summary execution and torture carried out by forcing a rubber tire 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.
Necklacing was used by the black community to punish its members who were perceived as collaborators with the
apartheid government.
[2] Necklacing was primarily used on black police informants; the practice was often carried out in the name of the struggle, although the executive body of the African National Congress (ANC), the most broadly supported South African opposition movement, condemned it.
[3][4] In 1986,
Winnie Mandela, then-wife of the imprisoned
Nelson Mandela, stated, "With our boxes of matches, and our necklaces, we shall liberate this country", which was widely seen as an explicit endorsement of necklacing.
[5][6] This caused the ANC to initially distance itself from her,
[7] although she later took on a number of official positions within the party.