Abahlali baseMjondolo member's murder was 'deliberate'

Mandy Weiner interviews Thapelo Mohapi, the general secretary of Abahlali baseMjondolo, on the murder of an activist and land occupation leader.

General secretary of Abahlali baseMjondolo, Thapelo Mohapi, says an attack on one of their members in eKhenana informal settlement of Cator Manor, in Durban, was deliberate.

Nokuthula Mabaso, an active member of the shack dwellers movement, was shot dead earlier this month.

Mohapi says the multiple bullet wounds that punctured the activist’s body and left her for dead are proof that the attack was planned.

Mabaso assisted people directly affected by the KZN floods and ran a communal soup kitchen that served the eKhenana community and surrounding areas.

She was shot four times at the back and two times at the front, so the people who killed Nokuthula knew what they were doing, they did not want to leave her alive.

Thapelo Mohapi, Secretary General - Abahlali baseMjondolo

Murdered in front of her children and with her cellphone taken away, Mohapi says that the motive for her death could be linked to the killing of former Abahlali baseMjondolo leader, Ayanda Ngila, which happened two months prior in the same community.

Mohapi says besides the alleged targeting of the movement's leaders, motive for Mabaso's killing might be because she was a witness to the crime.

Nokuthula had witnessed the murder and was a potential witness in that particular murder.

Thapelo Mohapi, Secretary General - Abahlali baseMjondolo

The secretary general says they hope the minister of police will respond to the issue.

The organisation has reported the issue to the Human Rights Commission and many other rights organisations, however, the matter has been met with very little urgency.

If you are poor in this country, the justice system does not work for you.

Thapelo Mohapi, Secretary General - Abahlali baseMjondolo

More from Politics

More from Local