The Abahlali baseMjondolo said in a press statement on 3 June 2014:
Nolwazi Zulu, a member of Abahlali baseMjondolo in the new Gwala land occupation in Cato Crest (named after Nkululeko Gwala – there is also a section named after Nqobile Nzuzua), was chopped and killed by her boyfriend Dumisane Mkhize on 13 May 2014.
Two activists have been murdered by the izinkabi here. One person has been murdered by the police. Now Nolwazi has been murdered by a malugaju.
It sometimes seems that we are the people that can be freely killed in this society. There were no arrests after the murders of Thembinkosi Qumbelo, Nkululeko Gwala or Nqobile Nzuza. We were pleased that Mkhize was arrested for the murder of Nolwazi. This is a case in which there is no doubt that the person arrested for murder is guilty of murder.
However after his arrest Mkhize was calling close friends of Nolwazi and threatening them not to testify against him. They tried to tell the police what was happening but they were just dismissed with no consideration at all. Some people think that Mkhize has connections to the Cato Manor police station. There is no gambling with life and so the women who have been threatened fled the area.
In his first appearance Mkhize was smiling like nobody died and he had no guilty conscious. This man is an ugly enemy to the community. We are strongly opposed to bail in this case. There is nothing stopping him from killing again, or intimidating witnesses, if he is released tomorrow.
We will be at his bail hearing tomorrow to demand that he not be given bail as he is is a danger to the community. We will also be demanding that poor women get the same protection from the police as all other women and that all women’s lives are taken as something precious to this society.
We cannot continue with the situation whereby poor women can be killed with impunity and the police do not take their lives seriously. At the same time we cannot continue with the situation where witnesses can publicly say that they saw the head of the Cato Manor police station murder Nqobile Nzuza during a road blockade and yet there is no investigation of this and no arrest.
Our members want a police service that is there to protect society, and not just rich people and politicians. They want a police service that takes every person’s life as something precious to the world.
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