Nqobile Nzuza was a resident in the Marikana Land Occupation in Cato Crest, which is part of Cato Manor in Durban, South Africa. She was a member of the shack dwellers' movement Abahlali baseMjondolo.Sacrifice After Mandela: Liberation and Liberalization Among South Africa’s First Post-Apartheid Generation , Kerry Chance, Anthropological Quarterly, 2015Abahlali baseMjondolo: Living Politics, Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa, September 2022
Death
On 30 September 2013, at the age of 17 years, Nzuza died when a police officer shot her in the back of her head during an anti-eviction protest organised by Marikana residents. She was the third member of Abahlali baseMjondolo killed that year.No place for the poor : the governance of removal in Zulu and SAITF, Irene de Vos and Dennis Webster, Constitutional Court Review: Vol 7, No 1, 1 October 2015Nqobile Nzuza, a 17 Year Old School Girl, Shot Dead with Live Ammunition by the Cato Manor SAPS, Abahlali baseMjondolo, 30 September 2013Abahlali baseMjondolo: Living Politics, Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa, September 2022 The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) later opened a case of murder against the Cato Manor police.Poverty, inequality and violence : a case study of Cato Manor, Rachel Gray and Brij Maharaj, ISRC, 2017
Police admitted to shooting Nzuza besides another resident who was wounded, but claimed they were acting in self-defense. Representatives of Abahlali baseMjondolo said it was the fault of the police.In Durban's Cato Manor: Death by protest, death by dissent, Khadija Patel, Daily Maverick, 1 October 2013
Aftermath
The death caused significant controversy. When Bandile Mdlalose, then General Secretary of Abahlali baseMjondolo, visited Nzuza's family, she was arrested. There were a range of letters and statements on the matter by well-known US based academics such as Noam ChomskyLetter from Chomsky, Zizek, et al to Jacob Zuma, President, Republic of South Africa, 4 October 2013 and Anglican Bishop Rubin Phillip.In Durban's Cato Manor: Death by protest, death by dissent, Khadija Patel, Daily Maverick, 1 October 2013
Chomsky wrote a letter to the Mail & Guardian newspaper in Johannesburg along with other signatories, which included Slavoj Zizek, Judith Butler and John Holloway. They urged Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa and James Nxumalo, the local Mayor to put an end to the violent attacks on activists and their homes.
Conviction
In 2018 a Cato Manor police officer, Phumlani Ndlovu, was convicted of murder and was sentenced to ten years in prison. The trial lasted 5 years. Nzuza's family declared themselves unhappy with the verdict.Ten years in prison not enough for cop who killed my daughter, says Durban mother, Nomfundo Xolo, GroundUp, 17 January 2018Abahlali baseMjondolo: Living Politics, Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa, September 2022
See also
Nkululeko Gwala Political repression in post-apartheid South Africa Protests in South Africa
References