Nokuthula Mabaso, (1981/1982 – 5 May, 2022) was a prominent leader in Abahlali baseMjondolo[1][2][3] and one of the leaders of its women's league.
She was a leader in the eKhenana Commune.[4][5] She was assassinated on 5 May 2022.[6][7]
Activism
She was instrumental in developing the Commune's food sovereignty project.[8]
In April 2020 she successfully interdicted the eThekwini Municipality against carrying out illegal evictions against the residents of eKhenana.[9]
Mabaso opposed the commodification of land and explained that in eKhenana "We made a collective decision that we would not sell or lease any piece of land here in eKhenana."[10]
Arrest
On 8 October 2021 she was arrested along with Thozama Mazwi and Sindiswa Ngcobo, all members of the eKhenana branch of Abahlali baseMjondolo.[11] The arrests were part of a spate of arrests of about a dozen movement members and were widely seen as politically motivated. All charges were later dropped.[12][13][14]
Assassination
Mabaso was assassinated in the presence of her children in her home at the eKhenana Commune, in Cato Manor, Durban, South Africa on 5 May 2022 .[15][16][17] She left behind a husband and four children.[18][19] She was shot seven times.[20]
Two months before she was murdered she had witnessed the assassination by five gunmen of Ayanda Ngila, also a leader in the eKhenana Commune. The movement Abahlali baseMjondolo claims that she was murdered because of her activism and specifically after she decided to become a state witness fingering Khaya Ngubane as one of the perpetrators.[21] She was laid to rest at her family home at Esidumbini near Tongaat.[22][23][24] After Mabaso was killed, Khaya Ngubane was denied bail in the Ngila case.[25]
On the 26 July 2022, a pastor named Samson Ngubane (who leads a Zionist church in Mayville) as well as his brother Mhlanganyelwa Ngubane, who are also the father and uncle of Khaya Ngubane, were arrested for their involvement in Mabaso's assassination. On 6 September 2022, both accused were denied bail.[26][27][28][29]
Responses to the assassination
Following the assassination of Mabaso and two other activists in eKhenana - Ayanda Ngila and Lindokuhle Mnguni - the killings were condemned in a letter from over 130 civil society organisations.[30] The assassination of Abahlali baseMjondolo activists was also discussed at the 51st sessions of the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2022.[31]
