We will honour our fallen leaders on Sunday

18 August 2023
Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement

We will honour our fallen leaders on Sunday

This Sunday, 20 August, we will be marking a year since the assassination of Lindokuhle Mnguni, chairperson of the eKhenana Commune.

The Commune has lost three of its leaders through assassinations. Nokuthula Mabaso and Ayanda Ngila were assassinated in March and May last year respectively. In March, shortly after the assassination of Ayanda Ngila, masked police officers conducted an illegal raid in the nearby eNkanini occupation and murdered Siyabonga Manqele.

During the course of our struggle 25 people have lost their lives, the majority to assassinations and police murders.

Many of our members have committed themselves to ‘land or death’ or ‘socialism or death’. Lindokuhle was prepared to risk his life in the struggle to build socialism from below and he paid the highest price in the struggle to defend the lives and dignity of the oppressed.

During the initial eKhenana occupation, the building of the commune, in prison and during the fullest flowering of the commune he was a humble and soft spoken leader who listened more than he spoke, a man of quiet courage, an inspiration to his comrades and a young man who reinvigorated our movement with vision and radical ideas rooted in our struggle and open to the world. For Lindokuhle struggle was a school, the living school of the oppressed in movement.

He was a selfless leader who did not put his interests ahead of those of the people in the community or the movement. He always welcomed the views of other people and listened carefully to everyone. He was clearly and strongly against patriarchy and was very critical of religious practices which encourage patriarchy. He was a leader who never minced his words when there were discussions on issues of gender equality. He was committed to ensuring that land was allocated on the basis of social need rather than private profit, to building democratic socialism from below, to community planning and to pan-Africanism and internationalism.

There have only been convictions for three of the 25 lives that have been lost during our struggle. A police officer was convicted for the murder of Cato Crest resident Nqobile Nzuza in 2013.Two ANC councillors were convicted for the assassination of our KwaNdengezi chairperson Thuli Ndlovu in 2014. Last month Khaya Ngubane, a leader in the ANC youth league in Cato Crest, was convicted of the murder of Ayanda Ngila on 8 March 2022.

On Sunday we will mark a year since the assassination of Lindokuhle, and remember all our comrades who have given their lives to the struggle for the dignity of the oppressed. We are not recognised as human beings by the government. We are regarded as something like human waste. It is therefore up to us to defend our own dignity, to give meaning to our own lives, to take our place in the world, to remember our heroes and make sure that they are given all the honour that is due to them.

Oppression denies us the fullness of life and murders us when we stand up for our lives and our dignity, and for a fair share of the wealth of the world. Death is always present in our struggle for our lives. This is why our movement has had to become a movement of dignity and courage.

Our gathering to honour the fallen will take place at the eKhenana Commune beginning at 10:00 am on Sunday. All comrades and people of good conscience are welcome.

Contact:

Thapelo Mohapi: 084 576 5117
Mqapheli Bonono: 073 067 3274
Zandile Nsibande 073 611 8279