Durban — The National Freedom Party (NFP) has called on Police Minister Bheki Cele to provide explain why the killers of a party member and environmental activist were still at large.
Fikile Ntshangase, who was opposed to the expansion of a coal mine in her hometown of Mtubatuba in northern KwaZulu-Natal, was gunned down in 2020, but the NFP said no one has been charged with her murder to date.
Party secretary-general Canaan Mdletshe said in a statement that it had been two full years since Ntshangase was “brutally murdered” in Mtubatuba, but police were yet to make an arrest.
Ntshangase was shot six times at her home, which was 500m from the mine.
Mdletshe said Cele should take full responsibility for the police’s failure to arrest her killers. The party said it strongly believed she was killed for her stance on the mine expansion since she had been receiving death threats.
“Because of this, she was intimidated, received multiple threats and in the end silenced. It has been two years and no one has been charged with her murder. It is unacceptable that someone who voluntarily chose to protect her environment – not only for her own sake, but for the future of hundreds of families affected by mining companies that prioritise profits over the people’s lives – was killed and police have failed to bring the killers to book.
“Minister Cele must tell the country and the world why Ntshangase’s killers are still loitering on our streets. We demand answers, we demand justice for Ntshangase,” read the statement.
The NFP added that if Cele cannot provide answers, he must “tell the people of this country who they must trust. The party said it would be working with environmentalists to demand answers.
At the time of her death, Ntshangase had apparently refused a R350 000 bribe to sign the agreement to allow the expansion, but bribery claims were dismissed by mine management, which described them as blatant lies.
Her death drew widespread condemnation from environmentalists countrywide. She was vice-chairperson of the Mfolozi Community Environmental Justice Organisation, which had been challenging the expansion of the mine.
The Centre for Environmentalists Rights and Amnesty International South Africa also called for justice for Ntshangase.
On their Facebook page, they posted: “We all need to fight for justice for her because if there is no accountability for Fikile there is no accountability for anyone.”
Cele’s spokesperson Lirandzu Themba said: “The docket was handed over to the senior public prosecutor for a decision on December 29, 2022. We are awaiting feedback.”
Daily News