A statement of solidarity from the Church Land Programme in response to the assassination of Ayanda Ngila

Solidarity Statement for Abahlali BaseMjondolo in the face of Death

To all Abahlali Comrades, family and friends of the late Ayanda Ngila:

Church Land Programme is appalled by the senseless killing of Ayanda Ngila on the 8th March 2022 at his settlement eKhenana. Another sacred life taken; another precious family member ripped from his loved ones; another Abahlali member persecuted and silenced. We mourn and cry out with you in pain and anger – stop these attacks!

We are incensed by the ongoing attacks and killings of leaders of Abahlali with no repercussions for perpetrators. The putting of the knee on the neck of the poor reflects the determination of the elites and their alliance politicians to suffocate the poor who are defending their God-given lives and dignity. As in the case of George Floyd’s last words, Abahlali too can’t breathe with the knee of the anti- democratic forces sitting heavily on their neck.

The killing of Ayanda is a clear demonstration of the war on democracy, a war on the struggle for self- creation, a war on the struggle for autonomy and freedom. Ayanda’s killing is a declaration that shack dwellers do not count; the poor do not matter and can be silenced, and should not attempt to break out of their allocated position in society – people of no status. We stand in solidarity with you against a world that assumes that life is expendable for the interests of the powerful – and poor ordinary people must pay the price; a world that will not tolerate dissent and the voice of the marginalised; a world that acts violently to destroy the ones they have made ‘the other’. We stand with you in solidarity in building a new world: a world in which our dignity shapes our path and our actions; a world in which the attacks and killings of our brothers and sisters must stop; a world in which every life matters, in which the life of Ayanda matters and is valued – and will not be forgotten.

As we said in similar barbaric attacks when women and men of the movement were assassinated – Nkululeko Gwala (2013), Thembinkosi Qumbela (2013), Thuli Ndlovu (2014) and Sifiso Ngcobo – their blood will water the seed of liberation and the struggle for emancipation of the poor.

We continue to stand in solidarity with you and endorse your call:

• Stop these attacks on the members of Abahlali BaseMjondolo;
• Arrest and prosecute the perpetrators of this horrendous murder.

Forward Ever! Backward Never!
Issued by Church Land Programme 9 March 2022