Shock and anger unifies community in calls to bring Lazola Gungxe to justice
Peter Luhanga
- Hundreds of people gathered to honour Lazola Gungxe at a memorial in Joe Slovo Park.
- Even rivals line up to pay tribute.
- Police admit the killers are still out there.
There was barely room to breathe in the Joe Slovo Park municipal community hall on Sunday 8 February as hundreds of mourners gathered to bid farewell to murdered ANC councillor Lazola Gungxe.
Gungxe was a proportional representation councillor who was gunned down after a community meeting at the Old Crossroads hall in Ntsikizi Street, Nyanga, on 3 February.
Party faithful, many in bright party colours, travelled to the memorial service from Pella, Atlantis, Khayelitsha, and even from the Overberg to pay tribute to Gungxe.
Even political foes turned up, united in shock at the loss.
The hall was not big enough. People crowded outside the doors, straining to hear the tributes.
Gungxe worked in Subcouncil 13, covering violence-scarred townships such as Philippi, Crossroads, Nyanga and Gugulethu.
He also held an ex officio seat on the Ward 4 committee, serving communities that include Joe Slovo Park, Milnerton, Montague Gardens, Royal Ascot, Summer Greens, Sunset Beach, Phoenix, and Century City. Blaauwberg subcouncil manager Roxanne Moses said he was a regular presence at the Ward 4 meetings.
At the memorial, Joe Slovo Park community leader and South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) Govan Mbeki branch secretary Cowen Banjatwa said the shock of the killing stretched far beyond party lines.
Banjatwa said even residents with no allegiance to the ANC felt the void in the community.
“Lazola was catering for all residents regardless of political affiliations,” said Banjatwa.
He said he had known Gungxe since 2003 and began working alongside him in the township six years later. He remembered a man who spoke plainly and carried himself without airs, someone who raised alarms about blocked drains and uncollected waste with the relevant city departments.
“Lazola, even though he was not staying here, was a product of this branch. You’d think he lived here, judging by the way he dedicated himself. He would go beyond the demarcations of this ward,” he said.
Joe Slovo Park EFF activist Mzi Sopeti said he met Gungxe at about 10am on the day of the attack to talk through plans to fix a sewer along Democracy Drive and Freedom Way.
Sopeti said he had known Gungxe since 2009 and their relationship cut across party loyalties, rooted instead in improving life for township and informal settlement residents.
“Even my own party called me an agent of the ANC within the EFF but for us it was not about party politics. It was about development to better the lives of the residents in our ward,”said Sopeti.
ANC provincial leader, Ndithini Tyhido said the party was shattered by the sudden and tragic passing of a “young person”.
Tyhido said the voices heard at the memorial spoke to the mark Gungxe had left on the ward.
Police Oversight and Community Safety MEC Anroux Marais condemned the killing in a statement on 4 February and offered condolences to Gungxe s family, colleagues and the residents he served.
Marais stated the violence was intolerable and demanded a response from law enforcement equal to its gravity.
She called on SAPS to pursue the perpetrators with urgency, and appealed to the public to assist investigators through anonymous tip-off channels, saying even the smallest detail could prove decisive.Western Cape provincial police spokesperson Wesley Twigg said the matter is still under investigation. “There are no new developments to report at this stage,” said Twigg.