Statement on the Murder of Mr. Noel Dintshiantshia

Thursday, 19 March 2015

Abahlali baseMjondolol & Congolese Solidarity Campaign joint press statement

Statement on the Murder of Mr. Noel Dintshiantshia

Abahlali baseMjondolo and the Congolese Solidarity Campaign “CSC” are saddened by the sudden death of Mr. NOEL BEYA DINTSHIANTSHIA, who was killed by petrol bomb while he was on duty on Friday night last week. He was working at the BUFFALO BAR, owned by Mr. Naidoo, as a bouncer on the corner of Commercial and gardener Street in the city of DURBAN.

According to the deceased last words before he died, there were some customers who were making a noise and disturbing other customers at the liquor outlet. The owner sent him to tell them that they should respect other customers, but they did not listen. They continue to make noise. The owner sent him to take all of them out and make sure that they are not coming back.

According to the deceased these people told him that he cannot do that to them in their own country and that they will show him. They came back 30 minutes later behind from where he was standing outside. They petrol bombed him. When he tried to run inside the liquor outlet for help they closed the gate for him and he was not assisted accordingly. He ended up burning alone just outside the KFC while people watched him burn.

It also said that medical rescuers and police came late on the scene. He was rushed to Addington Hospital and then transferred to Wentworth Hospital in Jacobs where he died on Sunday morning around 7 am.

We are very concerned about the protection of Migrants in South Africa, especially African Migrants. It seems that we are the people that can be killed with impunity in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in South Africa too.

Mr. Dintshiantshia was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, on 15 January 1968, in the province of Kassai occidental. He arrived in South Africa in 2005. He died at the age of 47, and left behind a wife and a young daughter.

A case of murder was opened at the police station but the killers are still on the run. According to the victim’s brother the police are not doing enough to bring the killers to book according. The remains of the deceased will be repatriated back home (DRC) next week, where he will be laid to rest.

Abahlali baseMjondolo and the Congolese Solidarity Campaign send our condolences to the family of our fallen brother who died in exile because of political instability and economic mismanagement in our country (DRC) which has led many of us to leave our promise land, and seek refuge in different countries around the world, and particularly in South Africa. The moment through which our people are living in any part of the world is one of the darkest moments in the history of humankind. Our future is dark, and scattered.

The Congolese Solidarity Campaign is a grass roots social movement which struggles for social justice, equality, and to create a free, open, and unified DR Congo open to all regardless of culture, ethnicity, beliefs, race, social origin, gender, race, and region. We are on the mission of preserving human dignity of our people. We are united by destiny and history to encompass the noble ideas of liberty, fraternity, solidarity, justice, peace and work. We are animated by our common will to build, in the heart of Africa, a State of Law and a powerful and prosperous Nation, founded on a real political, economic, social and cultural democracy.

We are proud to stand with Abahlali baseMjondolo in Durban.

We call upon the South African Police Services to immediately investigate and arrest those that were responsible for the brutal murder of Dintshiantshia. We call upon the South African government to intervene and act decisive in bringing peace and stability in DR Congo. We call upon the African Union to do justice in the protection of the sovereignty of the Congolese people. We also call upon ordinary South Africans to reject any violence against any foreign nationals and to work for a free Africa in which everyone’s dignity and humanity is respected.

We are planning a Memorial Service in Durban for the late comrade before his body is sent back home.  The media will be informed in due course.

Contact:

Kapele Mutachi 072 8942882

Pastor Raphael Kabambire 072 850 0124

Thembani Ngongoma 084 613 9772

S’bu Zikode 083 547 0474