APF activist in Orange Farm shot dead in her home : IMC-SA

In what appears to be a politically motivated attack, 61 year-old APF and Orange Farm Water Crisis Committee (OWCC) activist Emily Nengolo, was shot dead in her home by two unknown assailants early this morning (Saturday 8th February).

According to family members who were present in the house (located in Extension 1 of Orange Farm) at the time of the murder, two adult black males forced their way into Emily Nengolo’s house around 1am on Friday night shining flashlights into the darkened rooms. When they came upon Emily Nengolo they were reported to have said, “this is the one we are looking for”, and proceeded to shoot her twice. The two men ignored the other four people present, ran out of the house without taking anything and then disappeared into the streets of the sprawling settlement. Comrade Emily died on the spot.

Neighbours immediately called the police but they did not arrive until after 3am, by which time other community members and APF activists had gathered at the house. It took another four hours for the mortuary van to arrive to remove the corpse of Emily Nengolo. It was only after 7am in the morning that a police team arrived to secure the murder scene and conduct a search for fingerprints and other potential evidence.

Emily Nengolo was an active member of the APF affiliate – the Orange Farm Water Crisis Committee (OWCC)- and had participated in numerous APF educational and political activities. She was a dedicated community activist who, most recently, had helped organise residents of the adjoining Driziek Extension 3 in Orange Farm, in publicising and resisting forced evictions initiated by the ANC-controlled local council.

From all the facts that are available at this stage, the APF can come to no other conclusion than that the murder of Emily Nengolo was politically motivated. The way in which the two unknown assailants carried out the murder, specifically targeting and identifying Comrade Emily in the dead of the night and having no interest in others who were present or in taking any material goods from the house, supports such a view. Over the last year, the OWCC has been actively and effectively involved in resisting water and electricity cut-offs and evictions in their community as well as building community organisation and struggle for meaningful socio-economic development in response to the anti-people, GEAR-inspired policies being implemented by the ANC government. Late last year, one of the key leaders of OWCC was visited by operatives of the National Intelligence Agency in an obvious attempt to intimidate the OWCC into halting their activities. The same operatives were subsequently exposed to the community when they returned for a 'follow-up visit.'

The APF has issued several public statements since mid-2002, detailing how APF activists in various communities have been targets of intimidation and physical harassment/abuse as well as arrest and detention. We have warned that the intolerant and heavy-handed responses by government to the legitimate political activities of the APF and its affiliates has created an atmosphere in which APF activists are often viewed as ‘enemies of the state’ and the governing party, the ANC. It is in such an atmosphere that the murder of Emily Nengolo has been carried out.

The APF demands that the government utilise all resources at its disposal to find, and apprehend the two men who murdered Comrade Emily. For our part, the APF and the Orange Farm Water Crisis Committee will not rest until justice has been done. We will not be intimidated by what has happened nor will we desist from carrying on our legitimate struggles in the interests of the poor and working class.

To Comrade Emily’s family members and close friends, the APF and the Orange Farm Water Crisis Committee extend our sincerest condolences. Comrade Emily will be remembered and celebrated as a woman of courage and principle, an activist who practiced what she ‘preached’ in the struggle for human dignity and equality.