Five Children Lost in Devastating Shack Fire

1 March 2026
Abahlali baseMjondolo press statement

Five Children Lost in Devastating Shack Fire

At 3 am on Saturday a fire broke out in the Ekuphumleni settlement in Shakas Head. The fire took the lives of five children from the same family. The devastation is beyond words.

The community tried to stop the fire and rescue the children but to no avail. The fire was too strong.

Being poor means living close to death. The structural violence of impoverishment and abandonment eats at our lives. When we stand up for our lives we are met with violence, and sometimes murder. You can die slowly or you can die quickly. You can die in a fire or from a gun but however you die it is certain that your life is given no value by this system of oppression. This is why we are in rebellion against oppression. We are in rebellion for life, to stay alive and to live flourishing and rich lives.

The previous Saturday we laid Zweli ‘Khabazela’ Mkhize to rest after he was assassinated for standing up for our lives. Now we have to confront this devastation. Death is everywhere.

For twenty years we have been struggling to get the crisis of the regular fires in shack settlements across the country recognised as a crisis. But our lives do not count to this society and so we have been left to burn for twenty years. We will not be ground down by all this suffering and death. We will continue to resist.

The Shakas Head community are facing eviction as a result of pressure from the very rich people living in gated communities along the coast. They are supported by the ANC. Their militarised security company, which has drones, a helicopter and automatic weapons, works closely with the police. The rich, the ruling party and the state are aligned against the poor. They all agree that we should not be living on this land, near to the sea and close to the rich. We are treated as human waste, as people who should be taken to human dumping grounds, to places where we will not be seen by the rich. They want us to work for them but not to live with them.

A week ago were devastated with the family of Khabazela. Now we are devastated with a family that has lost five children.

Our leaders rushed to the scene as soon as we received the news, and the movement held a prayer in support of the family on the site of their suffering. We remain in support of the family. We thank the Gift of the Givers for their support to the family. We thank our comrades in the Durban Coalition for their continued support.

Our struggle is in defence of life but it moves from funeral to funeral, from political funeral to political funeral.

Our children are as precious and beautiful as all other children and we will fight with all we have for their future. Nothing short of revolution, a revolution to recognise the humanity of all people, is good enough for them.

We mourn Asamkele Somntsewu, who was 19, Sonwabise Noyila who was 14, Amila Menemene who was 4, and Sokhula and Solulele Somntsewu, one year old twins.

We hold Ntombovuyo Menemene, the mother of Amila, and Yana Menemene, who are both in hospital, in our hearts.

We will defend our lives, the lives of our children, and the lives of their children still to be born, with all that we have against this system of oppression.

Contact:

Thapelo Mohapi 084 576 5117
Sinenhlanhla Mcanyana 073 832 3331
Ongama Mncameni 073 922 2546