20 March 2015

Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement

Two ANC Councillors will Appear in Court Today to On Suspicion of Being Responsible for the Assassination of Thuli Ndlovu

Thuli Ndlovu, our chairperson in KwaNdengezi, was assassinated in cold blood on the 29th September 2014 at her home. On 30 September 2013 Nqobile Nzuza was murdered by a police officer in Cato Crest during a protest. She was shot in the back of the head. Nkululeko Gwala was assassinated in Cato Crest on the 26 June 2013. Thembinkosi Qumbelo was assassinated in Cato Crest on 19 March 2013.

We have always said that our city, Durban, is run by gangster politicians who are committed to use intimidation of various kinds, and even to kill, those that they cannot control. This practice of intimidation and even murder by gangster politicians has been operating with impunity for years. For years there have been no arrests after assaults, the destruction of people’s homes and assassinations. None of the so called political leadership from government has ever come to us or to the families that have their relatives killed.

Thuli received numerous death threats for her activism against the councillors’ housing corruption. An hour before she was killed she had told her mom that she had seen Nqola, the local councillor, driving his well-known black Nissan Navara car around the area. Thuli left her small baby Freedom and her daughter. The community has always been terrified with Nqola. A few weeks after Thuli’s murder an ANC activist, Mobeni Khwela, who had worked closely with Thuli in exposing Nqola’s corruption, was murdered in the same way as Thuli. After that murder we saw top government leaders visiting the family of Mobeni Khwela. This shows exactly that our lives count for nothing in the politicians’ eyes and that we are not treated equal. When you organise outside of the ruling party you become a person that can be killed with impunity.

Our members, and members of the SACP in KwaNdengezi have engaged in ongoing protests and road blockades since the assassinations.

We are happy to announce that two ANC councillors, Nqola and Luvelile Lutyelu, were arrested last month. They were refused bail and will appear in the Pinetown magistrate court again today.

Our members will be there in numbers to ensure that this case is prosecuted faily.

We wish to thank the police for doing their job despite so much of political interference in their job. We also wish to thank the local SACP members who refused to be governed by the thugs and gangsters that were imposed by the ruling party upon this community. We hope that all other similar crimes committed by politicians can be investigated and criminals be brought to book. We have repeatedly said that this Province has promoted a politic of blood and a politic of fear. We hope this can come to an end.

Contact

T.J. Ngongoma 084 613 9772

Zandile Nsibande 074 767 5706

Ndabo Mzimela 079 355 6758