Organising in the Shadow of Death

1. Organising in the Shadow of Death
Since our movement was first formed in 2005 various factions
of the elite – including in the ruling party, the government,
NGOs and the universities – have considered the self-
organisation of impoverished people in a democratic movement
to be an illegitimate development.
All positions in our movement are subject to election, and the
right to recall. We continually hold open and public meetings at
which decisions are reached, usually by the process of
continuing discussion until a consensus is developed. Yet
despite this our decision to organise ourselves, and to speak
and act for ourselves, has constantly been presented as an
external conspiracy by elites who feel that they have a natural
right to think for us, to speak for us and to represent us. We
have regularly been presented as criminals.
We have faced constant lies and slander, some of it organised
by intelligence, and serious and often violent repression
including assault, the destruction of our homes, arrests and
imprisonment on false charges while awaiting trial, torture and
death. Our members have died at the hands of the police, the
Anti-Land Invasion Unit and the izinkabi. At times some of our
leaders have had to go underground and in late 2009 the whole
movement had to organise underground for some months.
In 2009 our members were openly attacked by the ANC, acting
with the support of the police, and driven from their homes in

2. the Kennedy Road settlement in Clare Estate. For months our
members were openly driven from their homes by armed
supporters of the ruling party acting with the open support of
the police. Leading figures in the ruling party publicly supported
this repression.
In March 2013, Thembinkosi Qumbela, who was not a member
of our movement but did support a land occupation that our
members also supported, was assassinated in Cato Crest. In
June the same year Nkululeko Gwala, our Chairperson in Cato
Crest, was also assassinated. In September that year Nqobile
Nzuza was murdered by a police officer during a protest in Cato
Crest. She was 17 years old. After a long struggle the police
officer that murdered her was convicted of murder. In
September 2014 Thuli Ndlovu, our chairperson in
KwaNdengezi, was murdered by two ANC Ward Councillors.
After another long struggle the two Councillors were convicted
of murder and are now serving their sentence. In June last year
we lost two weeks old baby Jayden Khoza after he inhaled
teargas when police attacked the community in Foreman Road
in Clare Estate. In the same month Samuel Hloele was
murdered by the Anti-Land Invasion Unit in what was then
eMasenseni and is now the eKukhanyeni land occupation in
Marianhill. In November our chairperson in the Sisonke Village
land occupation in Lamontville, Sibonelo Mpeku, was
kidnapped and murdered. On 17 December 2017 Soyiso
Nkqayini and Smanga Mkhize, were shot by unknown men in
the eNkanini land occupation in Cato Manor. Comrade Smanga
was seriously injured and Comrade Soyiso, the Youth League

3. organiser in the occupation, passed away. In January this year
Sandile Biyela, was killed while escaping a brutal police attack
on the Solomon Mahlangu land occupation near Chesterville.
On 22 May S’fiso Ngcobo, our chairperson in eKukhanyeni,
was assassinated. On 29 May S’bu Zikode suddenly lost
control of the car that he was travelling in. When the car was
taken to a mechanic it was found that it had been deliberately
tampered with. This was a clear attempt on his life.
Qumbelo, Gwala, Ndlovu and Ngcobo all knew that they had
been marked for death before they were assassinated. Today
we are hearing the same things that we heard before their
murders. We have the same sense that we had before their
murders, a sense that death is imminent.
As we have previously noted the Mayor and the Chief Whip in
the eThekwini Municipality
made disturbingly undemocratic, authoritarian and threatening
statements about our movement, and about S’bu Zikode, at an
Executive Committee on Tuesday, 12 June 2018. The Mayor,
Zandile Gumede, said that there was a ‘third hand’ behind our
movement. She also said that the City would not work with our
movement and would, instead, work with the South African
Shack Dwellers’ International Alliance – the South African
branch of the international NGO that used to be known as
Shack Dwellers International (SDI). The Chief Whip, Nelly
Nyanisa, said that S’bu Zikode is “hellbent on making the city
ungovernable”. She also issued a clear threat against our
movement saying “We will deal with them.” This was all

4. reported in the media. Similar statements were made by ANC
leaders prior to the attack on our movement in Kennedy Road
in 2009.
Since these statements were made by the Mayor and the Chief
Whip we have had numerous warnings from various credible
sources that S’bu Zikode’s life is in grave danger. These
warnings have come from people in the ANC and people in the
police who are opposed to the political gangsterism in Durban.
Some members of the police in Durban have often been
directly supportive of, and involved in, political gangsterism and
repression. But there are factions in the police, especially at
national level, that are opposed to this. We have and will
continue to work with them to achieve credible investigations
into the murders of our comrades, and the plan to assassinate
S’bu Zikode, with the aim of achieving arrests and
prosecutions. At the same time we will continue to build
democratic people’s power from below and in struggle.
We have been warned from credible sources that the ANC in
Durban is planning to present our movement as a ‘terrorist’
organisation to legitimate further repression. We have been
through this kind of experience before when we have been
presented as criminals, and as a ‘third force’, to justify
repression. We repeat that we are a democratic organisation,
with an audited membership in good standing of more than
50 000, that takes its important decisions in open public
meetings. We stand for justice, and the dignity of our members.

5. The courts have repeatedly found in our favour and have
repeatedly noted illegal conduct against our members by the
eThekwini Municipality. Our aspirations for land, housing and
dignity are firmly in accordance with the spirit of the
Constitution of the Republic.
Our members freely participate in the formation of the
movement’s positions, sometimes over many months of
discussions in numerous meetings. This includes any collective
decision that we may take about a strategic response to
elections. In this regard, as in all other matters, our leaders
follow the mandate generated in free and open discussion by
our members. Our leaders do not give a line to the members.
This is a fundamental part of our politics.
There are two main reasons why we are facing such extreme
hostility from the ANC in Durban. One is that the Zuma faction
has had to retreat to the City of Durban, and the City’s large
budget. This faction is organised around corruption and the
housing budget is one of the most important vehicles through
which corruption is organised. We oppose corruption, often
very effectively, in communities across the city. The Zuma
faction is also trying to build an ethnic project. Our movement
unites people from various ethnicities, races and nationalities in
a democratic struggle for justice. This also makes us a direct
threat to the Zuma project. We have held public assemblies of
up to six or seven thousand people in football grounds. This is
far more people than Zuma can get at his court appearances,
even with a huge budget.

6.
We will not retreat. We have faced and survived previous
waves of repression, especially in 2009, and again in 2013 and
2014. We have faced and survived all kinds of dirty tricks and
lies. In 2018 we are bigger and stronger than we have ever
been before. We will survive this wave of repression too.
However, we wish to make it clear that if another attempt is
made on S’bu Zikode’s life, or on the life of any one of our
members or comrades, we will hold Zandile Gumede and the
eThekwini ANC directly responsible.
We are calling for national and international solidarity with our
movement and in defence of democracy in Durban.
The politic of blood in this city and province must come to an
end. We will not rest until justice has been served for every one
of our members and comrades who have been murdered.
Every assassination of every person, without regard for the
organisation in which they held membership, must be
thoroughly investigated with a view to achieving a successful
prosecution and conviction.