Repression continues in eKhenana as the homes of Maphiwe Gasela and Phumelele Mkhize are burnt to ashes

Abahlali baseMjondolo press statement
Wednesday, 27 October 2021

Repression continues in eKhenana as the homes of Maphiwe Gasela and Phumelele Mkhize are burnt to ashes

The alliance of the Cato Manor police, the local ANC and the eThekwini Municipality against the eKhenana Commune has taken another ugly turn. Last night the homes of Maphiwe Gasela and Phumelele Mkhize were burnt. Like all the other comrades from eKhenana who have been granted bail after arrest on bogus charges their bail conditions prohibit them from returning to Cato Manor, where eKhenana is located, so their homes were not occupied at the time of the attack.

Last night Ntokozo Ngubane, the daughter of NS Ngubane, the local ANC chief, was seen holding a meeting with ANC people in her house. After the meeting, at about 9pm, she was seen walking through the occupation with five other people. There were four men and one woman – Nkosingiphile Nsele. Nsele is the complainant in the case against Gasela, Mkhize and the three other women arrested on 8 October – Nokuthula Mabaso, Thozama Mazwi and Sindiswa Ngcobo. The six people walking through the occupation were carrying a 2.5-litre container filled with a liquid which witnesses assume was petrol. Shortly after this the homes of Gasela and Mkhize were in flames.

The community woke up but the fire had been fuelled with petrol and the flames were too high for them to be able to put it out.

Ntokozo Ngubane was a key state witness in the bogus murder charges brought against Ayanda Ngila, Lindokuhle Mnguni and Lando Tshazi who spent six months in prison after being arrested in March. All the charges were dropped against the three on 29 September after it became clear that the state had no case at all, and that the whole case was a crude frame-up.

It became clear that Ntokozo Ngubane and the other state witnesses had lied in court. Perjury is a criminal offence but they have not been arrested. We think that this may be because of the relationship between the Chief Magistrate, EB Ngubane, and her father, NS Ngubane and between both her and her father and the Cato Manor police.

After the two homes were burnt members of the community went to report a case of arson to the police in Cato Manor. Because the witnesses implicated Ntokozo Ngubane the police refused to open a case saying that the owners of the two homes must come to the station. The police were told that both Gasela and Mkhize had just been released from custody and that their bail conditions instruct them to stay away from Cato Manor. The police still refused to open the case. They also refused to come to eKhenana to witness the aftermath of the incident, speak to residents and begin an investigation.

Gasela and Mkhize are poor women with small children who have suffered for too long and whose lives have been vandalized by the local ANC, the police and the courts.

Our members are repeatedly arrested and jailed on bogus charges while there is impunity for brazen criminal actions by the local ANC and the Municipality.

We have repeatedly witnessed the police taking instructions from and consulting with NS Ngubane. We have also repeatedly witnessed NS Ngubane going in and out of the office of the Chief Magistrate, EB Ngubane, while our comrades are in court.

It is clear that the police are not going to protect eKhenana and arrest ANC thugs. The local Cato Manor police station, also known as Kwa Kito, is instructed to arrest only Abahlali members and they have repeatedly made arrests when there is no evidence of any wrong doing. All that it takes for our members to be arrested and removed from the Commune by being taken to jail or given bail conditions that prevent them from returning to eKhenana is an allegation from an ANC member no matter how ridiculous that allegation is. Any crime committed by local ANC thugs be it rape, assault or burning of property is ignored no matter how brazen. The ANC can openly engage in serious criminal actions with impunity.

There is an all-out attempt to crush the Commune. We continue to remain non-violent in all our responses to these attacks.

All our efforts to call for justice for eKhenana have been ignored. We call on all our comrades, progressive organisations in South Africa and elsewhere, along with human rights organisations and Chapter 9 Institutions, to add their voices and power to the defence of the Commune, and an end to violence from ANC thugs and the Municipality, as well as the ongoing misuse of the criminal justice system.

S’bu Zikode +27 83 547 0474
Nomusa Sizani +27 81 005 3686
Thapelo Mohapi +27 74 774 4219