EKhenana Commune

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A sign points towards the eKhenana land occupation in Cato Manor, Durban.

The eKhenana Commune (English: Canaan Commune) is a prominent land occupationin the historic working-class area of Cato Manor in Durban, South Africa. According to the Socio-Economic Rights Institute "The eKhenana settlement is organised as a cooperative in which residents collectively run a communal kitchen and tuck shop, and care for a subsistence vegetable garden named after the late Nkululeko Gwala [assassinated in 2013] as well as a poultry farm named the late S’fiso Ngcobo [assassinated in 2018].[1]

Background

The land on which the settlement is located is in a small valley between formal houses[2] and with a small river running through the middle. The land was first cleared and then settled in 2018.[3][4][5] It is one of many land occupations in the Cato Manor and Cato Crest area which lay vacant for many years after apartheid-era forced removals. The forced removals from Cato Manor are considered the Durban equivalent of what took place at District Six in Cape Town and Sofiatown in Johannesburg.[6] Like many occupations in Durban, eKhenana has been subject to a number of attempted evictions by municipal Law Enforcement as well as government-hired private security services. This continued despite an interdict being secured against the demolitions.[7][8][9]

Political Affiliation

In April 2019, residents of the settlement became members of the Abahlali baseMjondolo, the largest independent social movement in South Africa,[10] and set up a branch of the movement at the occupation.[11]

Commune

The Frantz Fanon School at eKhenana, Durban.

Inspired by a visit by Brazil's Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (Landless Workers Movement), the community decided to turn the settlement into a commune where they would share basic needs such as food. They began a communal vegetable garden, a collectively run chicken farm and build a community hall and communal kitchen. They founded the Frantz Fanon School and they also set up a collectively run spaza shop where they sold basic items for every ay use as well as produce from the garden.[12][13][14] [15][16] The commune and its communal garden was hard hit by the 2022 KwaZulu-Natal floods and many homes were washed away.[17][18][19]

Repression and assassinations

Since its founding, eKhenana has been subject to recurrent bouts of state repression. This occurred even during the Covid-19 lockdown when there was a national ban on evictions. In April 2020 there were multiple evictions carried about the eThekwini municipality's Anti-Land Invasions Unit (ALIU) as well as a private security company called Calvin Family Security Services. Dozens of homes were demolished during the various operations and a least one resident sustained serious wounds after allegedly being shot by ALIU officers. This occurred despite a court order whereby the municipality agreed to refrain from further operations.[20][21][22]

In 2021, about a dozen members of Abahlali baseMjondolo were subject to a variety of arrests related to eKhenana settlement. The settlement's chairperson, Lindokuhle Mnguni, along with two other leaders, Ayanda Ngila and Landu Shazi were arrested for murder. They were held in prison for over six months after which all charges were withdrawn after a key state witness recanted her testimony.[23][24][25] After these arrests, Mqapheli Bonono, the deputy president of Abahlali baseMjondolo, along with eKhenana residents Maphiwe Gasela and Siniko Miya were also arrested and charged with conspiracy to murder the witness in the first case. The former two were also held for two weeks and the later was denied bail for more than six months. Their cases were also eventually dropped as well.[26][27] Three more eKhenana residents and Abahlali leaders, Nokuthula Mabaso, Thozama Mazwi and Sindiswa Ngcobo, were also arrested, charged with assault and denied bail for a few weeks All these charges were later dropped as well.[28][29][30]

Activists claim these arrests were charges trumped up as part of state-sanctioned repression against the movement. They called for an investigation into police complicity and have also, with the help of the Socio-Economic Rights Institute begun a lawsuit to claim damages from the state.[31][32] Abahlali activists in eKhenana claim to be constantly under threat and under state surveillance.[33]

On 8 March 2022, Ayanda Ngila was shot and killed by a group of men that entered the settlement. Then on 5 May 2022 Nokuthula Mabaso was shot and killed in front of her home. On 20 August in the early morning, chairperson of the commune and leader of Abahlali baseMjondolo's youth league, Lindokuhle Mnguni was also killed when two gunmen entered the settlement.[34][35][36][37][38] The assassinations have been widely condemned.[39][40]

References

  1. ^ The Abahlali baseMjondolo experience exposes South Africa’s shrinking democratic space,Thato Masiangoako, Daily Maverick, 18 October 2022
  2. ^ Trouble in the promised land, Chris Makhaye, New Frame, 8 November 2021
  3. ^ ‘We are only good for votes’ say Cato Crest families, Nomfundo Xolo, TimesLive, 06 November 2018
  4. ^ A place of hope in a time of spiralling crisis, Nigel C Gibson, New Frame, 10 January 2022
  5. ^ A worried mother wanted to build a communal garden in Durban, she was murdered for it, Jordan Buser, Daily Maverick, 1 June 2022
  6. ^ Cato Manor: cruel past, pivotal future, Iain Edwards, Review of South African Political Economy, 24 February 2007
  7. ^ Shack dwellers under fire as lawyers accuse cities of abuse during lockdown, Des Erasmus, Daily Maverick, 27 April 2020
  8. ^ Durban shack dwellers illegally evicted, Alice Draper, Graham Philpott, David Ntseng and Mark Butler, New Frame, 23 June 2020
  9. ^ 'Unlawful' home demolitions frustrate SA's objective to curb Covid-19 spread - rights institute , Jeanette Chabalala, News24, 2 July 2020
  10. ^ The human cost of political violence, Imraan Buccus, News24, 19 March 2022
  11. ^ A place of hope in a time of spiralling crisis, Nigel C Gibson, New Frame, 10 January 2022
  12. ^ Community at the heart of hunger struggle in SA, Anna Majavu and Nomfundo Xolo, New Frame, 19 August 2021
  13. ^ Abahlali raises concerns about murder of members, leaders, Thami Magubane, IOL, 9 May 2022
  14. ^ eKhenana residents are tilling for freedom, Nomfundo Xolo, New Frame, 13 August 2020
  15. ^ Protect freedom of speech if you want to protect your other freedoms , Anton Harber, News24, 27 April 2022
  16. ^ Memorial service for Nokuthula Mabasa, murdered Shack Dwellers’ Movement activist, Lethu Nxumalo, IOL, 12 May 2022
  17. ^ KZN flooding: ‘The poorest of the poor’ feeling the brunt of the disaster, Marizka Coetzer, Citizen, 13 April 2022
  18. ^ Death, and survival, haunt KZN flood-stricken shack dwellers, Chris Makhaye, Eyewitness News, 21 April 2022
  19. ^ KZN floods: Affected shack dwellers ‘don’t have clothes, blankets or even food’ – Abahlali baseMjondolo, Zukiswa Pikoli, Daily Maverick, 14 April 2022
  20. ^ BARE LIFE: Life of the Urban Poor During the COVID-19 Pandemic in South Africa, Stefan Ogedengbe, University of Bergen, Fall 2021
  21. ^ Political Wars in KwaZulu Natal, Ryan Brunette, CityPress, 19 December 2021
  22. ^ KZN shack dwellers’ movement win partial victory in high court , Katleho Sekhotho, Eyewitness News, 28 December 2018
  23. ^ Abahlali activist is killed at home in eKhenana, Nomfundo Xolo, New Frame, 6 May 2022
  24. ^ Murder charges dropped against activists after six months in prison, Nokulunga Majola , News24, 29 September 2021
  25. ^ Trouble in the promised land, Chris Makhaye , NewFrame, 8 November 2021
  26. ^ Activists to sue NPA over “false” arrest and imprisonment, Nokulunga Majola, GroundUp, 5 October 2021
  27. ^ Overwhelming support for activists released on bail, Nomfundo Xolo, New Frame, 4 June 2021
  28. ^ Abahlali demands probe into Cato Manor police after new arrests, Nokulunga Majola, Groundup, 13 October 2021
  29. ^ Murder charges dropped against activists after six months in prison, Nokulunga Majola , News24, 29 September 2021
  30. ^ Trouble in the promised land, Chris Makhaye , NewFrame, 8 November 2021
  31. ^ Lindokuhle Mnguni 'enriched all of our lives', says land activist group of murdered commune leader, TimesLive, 22 August 2022
  32. ^ Under siege: Abahlali baseMjondolo says the ANC sees it as the ‘enemy of the state’, Chris Makhaye, Daily Maverick, 14 March 2022
  33. ^ State Is Putting Us At Peril Say Activists, Naledi Sikhakhane, Mail and Guardian, 19 June 2022
  34. ^ Prominent land activist Ayanda Ngila gunned down in KZN — Abahlali points finger at ANC, Chris Makhaye, Daily Maverick, 8 March 2022
  35. ^ "The murder of Abahlali's Ayanda Ngila is an injury to us all". Daily Maverick. 15 March 2022.
  36. ^ "Killing of land rights defender Ayanda Ngila and targeting of Abahlali baseMjondolo". 25 March 2022.
  37. ^ Murder of Abahlali baseMjondolo leader, Ayanda Ngila, condemned, Willem Phungula, DailyNews, 10 March 2022
  38. ^ ‘Our hearts are heavy’: Another KZN activist gunned down inside his home , Lisalee Solomons, News24, 20 August 2022
  39. ^ Abahlali baseMjondolo member's murder was 'deliberate', Radio 702, 17 May 2022
  40. ^ The South African Human Rights Commission condemns the brutal killing of Lindokuhle Mnguni, a leader within the Abahlali baseMjondolo Movement , South African Human Rights Commission, 22 August 2022
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