Glebelands average murder rate double that of Yemen – Global Initiative report

A Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime report authored by Glebelands activist and researcher, Vanessa Burger, has found that the murder rate at KwaZulu-Natal’s notorious Glebelands hostel is four times that of strife-torn Yemen.

The report, published late on Monday, the same day that the trial of the so-called Glebelands Eight – a group of former hostel residents who have been charged with running a criminal enterprise at the massive complex that included murder for hire – was expected to start.

The trial is taking place at the Pietermaritzburg High Court and was rolled over to Tuesday.

In the report, Burger found that between March 2014 and January 2019, more than 120 people died as a result of violence “perpetrated by hitmen based at Glebelands Hostel”.

The number is often quoted incorrectly in media reports, which tend to state that over 100 people have been killed at the actual hostel complex.

“The killings have bled beyond the hostel, throughout KZN and even into neighbouring provinces,” said Burger.

She said the number was “staggering” for a community of around 22,000 people living in a housing complex that covered less than two square kilometres.

“In 2018, South Africa’s murder rate was close to 36 per 100,000 people, the fifth highest in the world and comparable to conflict zones such as Somalia (38.4), Iraq (40.3), Afghanistan (40.4) and Yemen (61.6).

“By contrast, since 2014, the average murder rate in Glebelands has been almost 120 per 100,000 – nearly four times the national average and virtually double the kill rate for Yemen,” said Burger in the 33-page report.

Residents refer to the hostel as “Baghdad” or “Syria”, she said.

The police have attributed the high murder rate at the hostel to “pure criminality” and, in the case of the Glebelands Eight, fighting between two gangs affiliated to certain blocks over the money extorted from residents.

But Burger’s report found that the “majority” of victims of the violence claimed they were being targeted for wanting “political representation of their own choice” instead of having an African National Congress (ANC) deployee “forced on them”.

Burger said the victims alleged that the hostel’s ward councillor, Robert Mzobe, was “a dictator” with “personal vendettas”.

“Hostel leaders also complained they were being persecuted for speaking out against local-government corruption involving hostel contracts allegedly controlled by Mzobe and his allies in government, whom they accused of nepotism, dividing the community and using patronage to buy political support,” said Burger.

Mzobe has previously told this reporter that he is no way involved with the violence or with tenders or contracts, and that if people want to speculate, they are within their constitutional rights to do so.

In 2011, Glebelands was among the more than 419 disputed ANC branches that were flagged nationwide as having been constituted irregularly.

“When no action was taken, community dissent grew. In KZN many of these disputed branches later became flash points for political killings,” said Burger.

She said that in KZN, and at Glebelands in particular, becoming a hitman was often the only viable “job” opportunity for many young men.

“The power and status that come with owning a gun, earning relatively large amounts of money and having control over the life or death of others, can be seen as an attractive means of defeating poverty.

“The rapid increase in the number of hitmen resident at Glebelands demonstrates that the market for their skills is growing, as is the demand for unlicensed firearms.”

But Burger said that despite the horrific conditions at the hostel, the resilience of the Glebelands community was “miraculous”.

It was vital that residents are allowed to heal, the complex be depoliticised and residents offered alternative coping mechanisms.

“Community members who faced a daily threat of death stood together against external threats, often putting aside petty differences or rivalry for the sake of unity, peace and safety.

“Irrespective of their personal experiences, most residents displayed a remarkable ability to forgive, reintegrate and work with perpetrators if they showed genuine remorse, as well as an enormous capacity for hope of a better future and a vision for the community’s needs. Humour – albeit dark or self-deprecating – played an important role in keeping people sane.” DM