The Cry of the Xcluded is deeply concerned and angered by the shooting in Engcobo, Eastern Cape, in which one activist has reportedly been killed and three others wounded. The victims are members of the Engcobo Crisis Committee, a community structure organising around municipal governance, service delivery and the conditions facing working-class and poor communities. The Cry of the Xcluded works closely with the Engcobo Yethu Civic Organisation, which has been central to community organising in the area and works with the Crisis Committee.
Police have not yet confirmed the motive, identities of the perpetrators or whether arrests have been made. We therefore do not pre-empt the investigation or declare the shooting a political assassination before the facts are established. But whether or not these killings are ultimately classified as political, they must be understood within the wider and deeply worrying normalisation of violence against activists and community organisers.
The Cry of the Xcluded has recently had to bury comrades in the North West who were mobilising informal settlements through Solidarity Action Committees. We have also witnessed the sustained targeting and killing of activists and leaders associated with Abahlali baseMjondolo, a movement with which we work closely. For years, poor communities and social movements have raised the alarm about assassinations, threats and intimidation against those challenging corruption, maladministration, evictions, poor services and the abuse of public resources.
Where are the investigations and where is justice?
The most disturbing aspect is the normalisation of killings when investigations fail to deliver justice. Communities are expected to bury their leaders and activists and then return to organising as if nothing has happened. Too many cases remain unresolved, leaving a fundamental question: who protects those who organise for the public good, and who ensures that perpetrators are held accountable?
The proceedings of the Madlanga Commission have exposed serious concerns involving corruption, political influence, policing, prosecution and the criminal justice system. These revelations must be confronted alongside the continuing failure to adequately resolve attacks on community activists.
At the same time, government is pursuing austerity and budget cuts across the public sector. We are deeply concerned about what this means for policing, investigations, prosecution and the courts. A state that reduces the capacity of its justice and law-enforcement institutions while communities face escalating violence cannot expect people simply to remain passive victims.
Communities cannot be expected to fold their arms
The Cry of the Xcluded does not believe that the answer to political violence is more violence. Our communities do not need more guns. They need functioning institutions, accountable policing, effective investigations, independent prosecution and functioning courts. But communities cannot be expected to fold their arms while activists are threatened, attacked and killed.
We will defend our communities through organisation, solidarity, collective vigilance, democratic mobilisation and mutual protection. We will strengthen community structures, ensure that threats are reported and followed up, and build solidarity between movements, workers, civic organisations and communities. We will not allow fear to determine whether poor and working-class people have the right to organise.
We will not be intimidated
The purpose of assassinations and intimidation is to create fear, to tell people to stop organising, stop challenging those in power and stop defending their communities.
Our answer is NO!
The Cry of the Xcluded will not be intimidated out of organising for jobs, housing, water, health, education, decent services, accountable local government, and a dignified life.
We call on SAPS and the National Prosecuting Authority to urgently investigate the Engcobo shooting, protect those at risk, bring the perpetrators to justice and ensure that cases involving the killing of community activists do not disappear into an endless backlog. Community activists are not criminals for organising against injustice. They are citizens exercising their democratic rights.
The Cry of the Xcluded stands with the Engcobo Crisis Committee, the Engcobo Yethu Civic Organisation, the people of Engcobo, our comrades in the North West and Abahlali baseMjondolo.
An injury to one is an injury to all!
We will mourn our dead. We will demand justice. We will protect one another. And we will continue to organise.