Street renamed after slain land activist

SLAIN Azania land activist Midas Wanana has had a street in Kayamandi renamed after him to commemorate a year since he was shot dead by a still unknown assailant on August 15 last year.

Wanana was the first of three people shot within four months of each other in the Kayamandi area of Stellenbosch Municipality.

The other two were a former ANC Chief Whip in the Cape Winelands District Municipality, Cameron Mcako, who was shot and killed on November 3, and Wanana’s in-law and DA activist Thembelihle Joko, who was shot and injured on November 12.

Yesterday Sergeant Noloyiso Rwexana, spokesperson for the SAPS, said: “In each case there was one suspect arrested.

“The suspect in the Mcako shooting is an African male, age 28 and he was arrested in March 2020,” said Rwexana

While there had been speculation among Azania activists after the shootings that there was a connection between the shootings, three separate investigations were carried out.

Wanana’s friend and fellow activist, Zola Ndalasi said: “Today during the memorial service we re-named Azania’s First Street, which will now be known as Wanana Street in honour of or struggle for the Azania community.”

After her relative Joko was shot, Wanana’s widow, Nosicelo, fled Kayamandi and claimed at the time she had heard rumours of a hit list which included her name, and those of Joko and Mcako.

Nosicelo stayed away during Saturday’s memorial event. Ndalasi said: “She said in a telephone message relayed to gathering that she had been threatened by unknown people and told not to attend the event.”

When Wanana was shot last year, he had been in the headlines a few months earlier for leading a “land grab” of the Louisenhof Wine Estate owned by Stefan Smit, who was himself shot and killed in June 2019.

Wanana was shot a couple of hours before he was due to participate in a service delivery march to the Stellenbosch Town Hall.