The "fake" sign language interpreter at Nelson Mandela's memorial service has reportedly admitted being part of a group of people who killed two thieves by burning tyres around their necks.
Thamsanqa Jantjie, 34, who stood on stage next to President Barack Obama and other world leaders at the ceremony last week, was quoted by a South African newspaper saying that he had been part of a "community justice thing - what you call mob justice".
During the struggle against apartheid, "necklacing" was a particularly brutal method of killing used against blacks suspected of aiding the regime.
In recent years, it has been used more rarely in instances of vigilante justice.
One of Jantjie's cousins and three of his friends told AP that in 2003 he was among a group of people who set fire to tyres placed around the necks of two men accused of stealing a television set. Jantjie acknowledged his involvement in this incident, according to the Sunday Times of Johannesburg.