Last updated on 26/11/2022
Journalist Nomfundo Xolo who has been covering the daily struggles and violence against members of the eKhenana community reflects on a bloody year in which four activists from the settlement near Durban were violently killed
AT least 24 land rights defenders from the Abahlali baseMjondolo movement have been killed since 2009 – some allegedly by the police, others by armed state forces and some by assassins linked to local politicians.
In just 2022, four activists have been killed. One was allegedly murdered by masked police officers and three by unidentified assassins. The killing, repression and intimidation of human rights activists in the land and housing struggle have exposed the grim reality that is unrecognised and opposed in Parliament.
Grassroots activists from eKhenana, a commune birthed by Abahlali baseMjondolo have been assassinated and threatened at an alarming rate.
In the commune near Durban food is collectively produced and distributed from the garden and poultry farm.
There is a thriving cultural life including poetry and theatre and a political school named after Frantz Fanon and classes are regularly run for activists from across the city and elsewhere in the country.
Over a period of nine months, peaking in October 2021 and early 2022, 10 activists from eKhenana have been arrested. On bogus charges. In March, the community witnessed its first wave of killings.
Three leaders have already been shot in their homes inside the commune. The community’s will, safety and sanctuary now hangs on a thin thread as more activists are threatened, also halting the food sovereignty projects that had been established for the development and survival of the community of about 109 residents.
This report profiles eKhenana’s fallen heroes and those that remain, and land and housing activists whose deaths and risks remain unreported and without justice.
It is to remember those who endure sleepless nights from the unknown calls and threatening messages, those who have been murdered, falsely arrested, remain in hiding and those who have been forced to live surrounded by bodyguards to help keep them safe.
There are also those who have seen their children, parents, partners and friends shot dead in broad daylight, who live with bullet scars on their bodies, who have cleaned out blood from their yards and bedrooms while the police and media turn a blind eye.
A 2020 World Bank report titled Poverty and Equity Brief noted that 55.5 percent (30.3 million people) of South Africa’s population are living in poverty at the national upper poverty line. Women and children are cast aside and face a worsened quality of life than ever before.
Despite this reality the Ekhenana Commune is a glimmer of hope, young men and women who organise themselves to sustain the struggle for land and housing justice continue to be met with severe repression, including assassination.
History repeats itself
Access to land, housing, justice and law, basic health care and service delivery, are among the key basic human rights enshrined in the South African Constitution. They have long been recognised as key to advancing the socio-economic rights and wellbeing of previously oppressed groups and their position in the economy.
While the desire and urgency to address land matters is enshrined on paper, land deprivation in South Africa mimics an unequal and unjust reality which indicates a legacy of the extreme structural oppression from Apartheid.
On 14 September 2020, the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime published an article presenting research findings that “since 2016, there have been at least 38 assassinations and 14 attempted assassinations in mining localities in KwaZulu-Natal”.
The number has alarmingly grown since then.
Abahlali baseMjondolo facing assassinations of their three leaders expose the particular risks, and the long-term impact that land activists and marginalised communities experience in this often unforgiving pursuit of land and belonging, particularly in the city of Durban, with a global commonality.
According to Abahlali baseMjondolo, at least 24 land rights defenders from the movement have been killed since 2009; some allegedly by the police and armed state forces and others by assassins allegedly linked to local politicians.
In just 2022, four activists have been killed. One was murdered, allegedly by masked police officers and three by assassins.
There are only two cases in which the perpetrators of these killings have been brought to justice. A police officer was imprisoned for 12 years for the murder of Nqobile Nzuza in 2013.
In 2014, two local politicians were sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Thuli Ndlovu. There has been no justice for the other 22 activists lost to the politics of blood.
On Thursday, 17 November 2022, at the launch of a new publication entitled Abahlali baseMjondolo: Living politics and open exhibition, director of the Socio-Economic Rights Institute (SERI), Nomzamo Zondo detailed the ongoing struggle faced by Abahlali activists. “Ekhenana residents have faced more than 20 evictions, most as illegal from eThekwini Municipality.”
“From the 24 Abahlali activists who have been killed; 14 of them were assassinated by izinkabi (hired assassins), six of them were killed by security forces and one child who was two weeks old was killed while sleeping from teargas fumes during a violent eviction in Foreman Road.
“Teenagers have been killed, mothers and fathers without justice. And we are saying that at least for the three people who have been assassinated in eKhenana and one other killed (allegedly) by masked police in eNkanini, we demand to see justice,” she explained at the event.
Ayanda Ngila, who is originally from the Eastern Cape, had not been able to go back to living in eKhenana because of the ongoing repression and looming threats, but was still active in the community and often visited.
One afternoon on 8 March as the sun set and it was time for Ngila and his fellow comrades Lindokuhle Mnguni, Landu Tshazi and Maphiwe Gasela to return back into hiding, gunmen struck.
Ngila didn’t make it back. He was gunned down by known suspects who opened fire on eKhenana residents who were on their way back from fixing a disconnected water pipe.
Nokuthula Mabaso, 40, was instrumental in developing the commune’s food sovereignty projects, which included a poultry farm. This allowed the residents to generate enough revenue to sustain their community. Mabaso was murdered outside her home at around 7.30pm on Thursday 5 May 2022. Her killers are allegedly known to the community.
Maphiwe Gasela, 30, who had also spent six months in prison, was bailed out after her first arrest, her house in eKhenana was later burnt down, after which she was also rearrested after this incident a few more times on bogus charges. She too, can no longer stay in her home which she helped establish and develop, she is living in hiding. She admits that the psychological trauma from losing her friends and home has her feeling defeated. “Sometimes I feel like I’m losing my mind. We had always known about death in the struggle but it had always been from afar. Now, they’re getting us one by one to finish off eKhenana,” said Gasela.
State’s accountability
The South African state has a Constitutional obligation to protect the rights of human rights defenders, including women by taking a public stand against all those who violate these rights, ceasing all attacks and threats against human rights defenders and investigating all cases.
The state must prioritise the protection of human rights defenders in rural and urban spaces and ensure that these cases don’t go undocumented and publicly denounce the threats and attacks faced by Abahlali as human rights defenders. – news@mukurukuru.co.za
*This article is part of a series if investigations on the repression in eKhenana. It’s made possible by the Internews’ INSPIRES project.
