Category Archives: Sibongiseni Dhlomo

Daily News: City destroys shacks

http://www.iol.co.za/dailynews/news/city-destroys-shacks-1.1626284#.UrlGt_QW3Y4

December 24 2013 at 09:00am

By NOELENE BARBEAU

Durban – Just two days before Christmas, eThekwini has destroyed shacks at Cato Crest’s Marikana informal settlement, leaving at least 40 families struggling for shelter and fearing more evictions on Tuesday.

Among those from the 40 shacks were a family with a 2-week-old baby and a mother who feared for the safety of her young daughter as they slept in the bush on Monday night.

Shack dwellers’ movement Abahlali baseMjondolo has accused the municipality of being in contempt of a court order for the eighth time this year, and of planning the evictions to coincide with the Christmas period, when access to courts was more difficult.

Mayor James Nxumalo has hit back at Abahlali, saying it had built more illegal shacks in the past few days and was compounding the housing backlog.

Continue reading →

Mahala: Poor Man’s Burden

http://www.mahala.co.za/reality/poor-mans-burden/

by Samora Chapman and Caelin Roodt, Mahala

According to Abahlali baseMjondolo, the uprising in Cato Crest is being quelled by all means necessary: death threats, unlawful arrests and police brutality. Many unaligned shack dwellers have also fallen victim to violent suppression. Collateral damage, wrong place, wrong time, the poor man’s burden.

We headed to Cato Crest to find out more about the deaths. Our soft-spoken guide, Ndabo Mzimela does not come across as a political activist. But he became the Chairperson of the Cato Crest branch of AbM when his predecessor, Nkululeko Gwala, was assassinated on 26 June this year.

On 26 June a community meeting was held to discuss Nkhululeko the ‘troublemaker’. The meeting was attended by James Nxumalo (Mayor councilor of Durban) and Sibongiseni Dhlomo (MEC of Health).

Continue reading →

Is Nkululeko Alive, Dead or Risen from His Grave?

IS NKULULEKO ALIVE, DEAD OR RISEN FROM HIS GRAVE?

by Bandile Mdlalose

It has been almost three months since Nkululeko Gwala, a leader and activist of Cato Crest, was assassinated for speaking the truth.

Nkululeko was labeled, named and framed for being a bad leader and leading the protest which led to the burning down of the councilor’s office which took place on Tuesday 25 July 2013 at night. Of course this accusation was not true. But the politicians always think that they have got the answers to everything. Their role is to label activists who speak the truth, and to destroy their reputation. They always protect the system of oppression that makes some of us poor and others rich. Continue reading →

Daily News: Call for probe into activists’ killing

Leave a reply

http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/call-for-probe-into-activists-killing-1.1540262#.UdGzXvkwfUU

Call for probe into activists’ killing

By NKULULEKO NENE

Durban – The former head of shack dwellers movement Abahlali baseMjondolo has called for an independent probe of the killings of Durban housing activists Nkululeko Gwala and Thembinkosi Qumbelo.

Gwala, 34, was shot 12 times on Wednesday night near his girlfriend’s home in Cato Crest, where he lived. Qumbelo was shot dead in March on the same street, with 10 spent cartridges found by the police at the scene.

Speaking at Gwala’s memorial service on Sunday, former Abahlali president, S’bu Zikode, lashed out at Health MEC Sibongiseni Dhlomo for allegedly inciting people at a tense community meeting just before Gwala was killed.

Dhlomo, who is the ANC chairman in eThekwini,

denied that he had incited the crowd at the meeting before Gwala was murdered.

Dhlomo had delivered a heated speech at a meeting, saying Gwala was not wanted in the area, and that he “either leaves the area or the community leaves”.

He said that Gwala should be banished and should “scrub his heels because he is leaving today”.

He had said mayor James Nxumalo, who was also present, should take his homeboy Gwala back to Inchanga.

Gwala had been interviewed by the Daily News two hours before he was murdered.

Zikode told the about 300 people at the memorial service that it seemed every time government officials tried to calm the situation, a leader got killed.

He claimed that Qumbelo was due to meet officials from the eThekwini Municipality the weekend after he died.

“We have damning evidence to prove that Gwala’s assassination was… politically orchestrated. But we cannot produce it because we have lost trust in the police and the ANC leadership,” said Zikode.

“We will be engaging with our legal team which is busy probing (the) Marikana saga at the moment, to give us advice. Many of us are happy to come forward and present it (the evidence).”

Zikode claimed that the people responsible for the two murders had an interest in the Cato Crest area. “The killing of Qumbelo and Gwala was planned to instil political fear.”

He said Gwala had been instrumental in recruiting members to Abahlali baseMjondolo, an organisation that fights for shack dwellers’ rights.

Dhlomo could not be reached for comment.

But he told the Sunday Tribune that he had said at the meeting that Nxumalo, who came from the same area as Gwala, should take him back to Inchanga.

“I said: ‘If this boy can go back to Inchanga, there would be peace here.’ Do you have a problem with that? Do you call that incitement? That is your own opinion. I don’t agree with you,” Dhlomo had said.

Sunday Tribune: Murder follows MEC’s outburst

Leave a reply

The version of this article on the front page of today’s Sunday Tribune is a lot longer than this online version and includes comment from S’bu Zikode

http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/murder-follows-mec-s-outburst-1.1539619#.UdA4q_kwfUU

Murder follows MEC’s outburst

By NATHI OLIFANT

Durban – Friends of a Durban activist who was gunned down this week have called on the police to ramp up their investigation into the murder, which came five hours after Health MEC Sibongiseni Dhlomo told a public meeting that “troublesome” Nkululeko Gwala should leave Cato Manor, where he was agitating for housing reform.

Gwala had led various housing protests in Cato Crest and the Mayville area over the allocation of RDP houses, with tensions flaring up early this week.

Dhlomo, the ANC’s eThekwini regional chairman, is now accused of inciting and fuelling tensions among Cato Manor residents, after his statements on Wednesday.

The Sunday Tribune is in possession of a recording in which Dhlomo delivered a heated speech at a meeting attended by eThekwini mayor James Nxumalo, saying Gwala, 34, was not wanted in the area, and that he “either leaves the area or the community leaves”.

In the 25-minute recording, Dhlomo says that Gwala should be banished and should “scrub his heels because he is leaving today”.

Five hours later, Gwala was shot 12 times as he arrived at his home in Cato Manor, after watching a soccer match.

Gwala was part of a now-defunct 10-member committee elected to represent the community in March, after an under-pressure Nxumalo had visited the area to quell unrest and warn against land invasions.

Both Nxumalo and Dhlomo singled out Gwala when they addressed the meeting.

Dhlomo told Nxumalo that he must take Gwala, his “homeboy”, back with him to Inchanga.

In the recording, Dhlomo is heard saying: “Mr Mayor, I beg you to take your homeboy with you back to Inchanga. If anyone sees him today, please tell him to scrub his heels, because he is leaving (this area) today.

“ It’s either he goes or the community goes. He must go. He is not wanted here,” Dhlomo told the meeting in Zulu.

An angry Dhlomo responded by attacking the reporter and accused him of having employing underhand tactics.

Dhlomo said the Sunday Tribune was “planting agents to record meetings on its behalf”.

“I’m asking you why you are selective in your reporting? Why don’t you mention five speakers that spoke before me? What is your motive when you say I incited people? I believe it is unethical for you to report on a meeting that you never attended, but instead planted agents for. You have no context whatsoever of that meeting.”