Killing of anti-mining activist Sikhosiphi “Bazooka” Rhadebe

TheObservatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme ofthe International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World OrganisationAgainst Torture (OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in the followingsituation in South Africa.

Briefdescription of the situation:

Photograph: Law Resource Centre of South Africa

TheObservatory has been informed by reliable sources about the killing of Mr. Sikhosiphi “Bazooka” Rhadebe, Chairpersonof the Amadiba Crisis Committee (ACC).ACC is an advocacy group launched in 2007 to campaign for the rights of theresidents of the Xolobeni community in Eastern Cape, and especially opposingopen-cast mining of titanium in this area by Mineral Commodities Ltd (MRC), anAustralian-owned mining company, and its local subsidiary TEM, which would result in disruption of thecommunity’s way of life.

According tothe information received, on March 22, 2016, at around 7.30 pm, Mr. SikhosiphiRhadebe was shot outside his house in Mbizana by two unidentified men. The twoassailants, who came in a white Polo car with a rotating blue lamp on the roof,knocked at his door saying they were police officers. The human rights defenderwent out to speak with them and was shot eight times including in the head. Hisson witnessed the murder and was hospitalised along with Mr. Rhadebe's wife, asboth were in shock. An investigation into the murder of Mr. Rhadebe hasreportedly been handed over to the Directorate for Priority CrimeInvestigation.

An hour anda half before his murder, at about 6 pm, Mr. Sikhosiphi Rhadebe had called Ms. Nonhle Mbuthuma, ACC Secretary, to checkon her safety, and had told her that he understood that both of them were on a“hit list” of strong opponents of mining operations, together withanother ACC member, Mr. Mzamo Dlamini. The Observatory expresses itsutmost concern for the safety of other ACC members.

For severalyears, members of the ACC, with the help of local residents, have resistedattempts by MRC, and its local subsidiary, TEM, to access the titanium-richXolobeni coastal dunes, arguing that the mining venture would lead to theirforced removal from their land and threaten their livelihoods.

This murderis not the first episode of violence associated mining plans on the Xolobenidunes. Opponents to the mine have been the victims of repeated acts ofviolence, including armed attacks against community members in May and December2015 as well as intimidations and raids by police against opponents to themine.

The Observatory strongly condemns the murder of Mr.Sikhosiphi Rhadebe andurges the authorities to adopt effective measures to ensure the protection ofhuman rights defenders, including land and environmental rights defenders, inSouth Africa, and to conduct an immediate, thorough, impartial and transparentinvestigation into the above-mentioned events.

Actionsrequested:

Please write to the authorities in South Africa, urging them to:

i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrityof Ms. Nonhle Mbuthuma, Mr. Mzamo Dlamini, all ACC members as wellas all human rights defenders in South Africa, including land and environmentalrights activists;

ii. Carry out an immediate, thorough, impartial and transparentinvestigation into the above-mentioned events in order to identify all thoseresponsible, bring them before an independent tribunal, and sanction them asprovided by the law;

iii. Comply with all the provisions of the United Nations Declaration onHuman Rights Defenders, in particular with:

- its Article 1, which provides that “everyone has the right,individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for theprotection and realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the nationaland international levels”;

- its Article 12.2, which provides that “the State shall take allnecessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities ofeveryone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats,retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any otherarbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of therights referred to in the present Declaration”;

v. Ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamentalfreedoms in accordance with international human rights standards andinternational instruments ratified by South Africa.

Addresses:

· President of SouthAfrica, Mr. Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma, Email:president@po.gov.za, Twitter: @SAPresident

· Minister of International Relations andCooperation,Ms. Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, Fax: + 27 12 329 1000, Email: info@foreign.gov.za

· Minister of Justice, Mr. TshililoMasutha, Fax: 012 406 4680, E-mail: Ministry@justice.gov.za

· Ministerof Home Affairs, Mr. Malusi Gigaba, Email: csc@dha.gov.za

· Minister of Mineral Resources, Mr.Mosebenzi Zwane, Fax: +27 (12) 444 3145, Email: Queen.Poolo@dmr.gov.za

· Ambassador MxolisiNkosi, Diplomatic Mission of South Africa to theEuropean Union in Brussels, Fax: +32 (0)2 514 78 03, Email: embassy@southafrica.be

· Ambassador Abdul Samad Minty,Permanent Mission of South Africa to the United Nations in Geneva, Fax:+41 (0) 22 735 73 64, Email: mission@safricaun.ch

Please also write to the diplomatic mission or embassy of South Africain your respective country.