Death of Nqobile Nzuza

Nqobile Nzuza lived in the Marikana Land Occupation in Cato Crest, part of Cato Manor in Durban, South Africa, and was a member of the shack dwellers' movement Abahlali baseMjondolo.

On 30 September 2013, at the age of 17, Nzuza died when a police officer shot her in the back of the head during an anti-eviction protest organised by Marikana residents. She was the third member of Abahlali baseMjondolo killed that year. The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) subsequently opened a case of murder against the Cato Manor police. Police admitted to shooting Nzuza, as well as wounding another resident, but claimed they had acted in self-defense. Representatives of Abahlali baseMjondolo disputed this account, stating the fault lay with the police.

Nzuza's death generated significant controversy. When Bandile Mdlalose, then General Secretary of Abahlali baseMjondolo, visited Nzuza's family, she was arrested. The case drew international attention, including a range of letters and statements from academics such as Noam Chomsky and Anglican Bishop Rubin Phillip. Chomsky wrote a letter to the Mail & Guardian newspaper in Johannesburg, co-signed by Slavoj Zizek, Judith Butler and John Holloway, urging Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa, and James Nxumalo, the local Mayor, to end violent attacks on activists and their homes.

In 2018, following a trial that lasted five years, a Cato Manor police officer, Phumlani Ndlovu, was convicted of murder in connection with Nzuza's death and sentenced to ten years in prison. Nzuza's family expressed dissatisfaction with the verdict.