Dispute over land claims 8th victim
● A Cato Crest, Durban, community leader who named the alleged assassin of her colleague in an affidavit was killed last week in an ongoing bloody fight for land.
Abahlali baseMjondolo (ABM) activist Nokuthula Mabaso became the eighth victim of the dispute when she was shot on May 5, two months after speaking to the Sunday Times when community leader Ayanda Ngila was killed on March 8 by four men.
The areas of eKhenana and a neighbouring site, eNkanini, are at the centre of a fight over land which ABM president S’bu Zikode says involves a powerful local businessman.
Zikode said the businessman’s family were former ABM members but were now working with the ANC and police to gain control of the land, hence the attempts to remove the ABM’s leadership. He did not provide evidence to support his claim.
Named after the mythical “place of hope”, eKhenana has been drenched in blood, with police confirming that seven other people had been killed there since March last year.
Shortly after Ngila’s death, Mabaso detailed the events leading up to his killing in an affidavit submitted to police. She named the businessman’s son. He was arrested on March 22 and appeared in the Durban magistrate’s court on Friday. He was remanded in custody until May 18.
KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi said a recent imbizo initiated by police to stem the violence revealed levels of abuse by supposed community leaders.
“These ‘community leaders’ use municipal land to build shacks and invite communities to rent them. Then they claim to be representing those communities, whereas they are soliciting money from them. The majority of these leaders are living in plush suburbs in houses worth millions,” he said. He did not specify who these leaders were.
In March, the businessman, whose name is known to the Sunday Times, denied being behind the violence. He said his children lived there and had since gone into hiding.
“I don’t want any land. I have my own houses and all these allegations against me are not true. I’d like for Zikode to speak to me, so that he’ll tell me where he got such information.”
Police minister Bheki Cele and the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) are investigating the violence, which ABM says has claimed 20 lives since 2016.
Zikode, who last year received Sweden’s Per Anger Prize for his efforts to promote human rights and democracy with the movement, and has survived attacks on his life, has successfully legally challenged evictions by the eThekwini municipality and distanced himself from party politics.
ANC provincial spokesperson Nhlakanipho Ntombela said he was unaware of ABM’s allegations against the party and did not know the businessman.
Lloyd Lotz, the SAHRC’s KwaZulu-Natal manager, said their civil and political rights commissioner Chris Nissen was looking into all of the allegations.