Slain Wild Coast Anti-Mining Activist Laid to Rest

The funeral of murdered activist Sikhosiphi Bazooka Rhadebe took place on Saturday amid calls to bring the perpetrators to justice. Two journalists as well as members of the community were reportedly attacked during the service.

Rhadebe was killed two weeks ago when assailants posing as police officers arrived at his home and gunned him down in front of family.

Rhadebe worked as the chairman of the Amadiba Crisis Committee (ACC) which represents community members opposed to the granting of mining rights at Xolobeni.

It is reported that he was aware of death threats against him and that he had called another ACC member just before his death to check on her safety. He had spoken of a hit list on which his was the first name and hers the second. An hour and a half later, he was dead.

Australian company Mineral Resources Limited (MRL) and BEE company Xolobeni Empowerment are planning to extract titanium in the unspoilt sand dunes at Xolobeni by building a 22km-long and 1.5km-wide open-cast mine.

Watch the trailer of a new documentary about the Wild Coast conflict:

https://vimeo.com/102621491

The project has ruptured the local community with Xolobeni’s village chief reportedly in favour of the project, while many of the local residents claim they have not been adequately consulted. Worse still, villagers claim they are now being intimidated by pro-mining thugs into backing the project and that the police are turning a blind eye.

Amidst this atmosphere of intimidation, a photojournalist and reporter from The Citizen were severely beaten when trying to cover the funeral on Saturday and claim that members of the SA Police Service were on the scene but failed to protect them.

At the funeral, ACC secretary Nonhle Mbuthuma vowed to the people of Xolobeni, “No matter what happens, the struggle continues. As our chairman Bazooka Radebe used to tell us, when you are in a struggle you are going to lose soldiers but it does not mean that will be the end of the struggle”.

NGO Sustaining the Wild Coast on the weekend appealed to all global citizens to place flowers, photos, candles and words of support at Australian embassy gates around the world to commemorate Rhadebe’s life and to ensure that the struggle of indigenous people to protect land they have lived on for 1,500 years is not forgotten.

Charlotte Allan is a lawyer and human rights activist from the UK who has worked for CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation and for the UNHCR. She has been in South Africa for four years.