Tomorrow, 2 December, we will be laying our friend and comrade Sibonelo Patrick Mpeku, former chairperson of our branch in Sisonke Village in Lamontville, to rest. This has been a difficult time for his family, his community and the movement at large. Comrade Mpeku was a leader that we all looked up too and respected. He was a man of God who wanted justice, land and dignity for the poor. 

He will be laid to rest in his home village of eMangweni in Bizana in the Eastern Cape. He will be buried with dignity and we will celebrate his life with his family. Our members will come out in their numbers from our branches in Bizana and in Durban.

We want to send a clear message to those who continue to undermine and oppress us by giving comrade Mpeku a funeral that shows the world the respect in which he was held in life and the respect in which he is held in death. We have lost six comrades in the struggle for land and dignity.

We are working with the police to ensure that no stone is left unturned in the investigation into the murder of Mpeku.

We will place the full weight of our movement behind the struggle to ensure that his killers are brought to justice.

Repression has not stopped our struggle against oppression. We continue to build the democratic power of the impoverished from below. We continue to occupy and to hold land. We continue to struggle for access to decent housing, services and education. We continue to occupy all kinds of spaces in which oppression excludes us. We continue to insist that wealth and power must be shared and that South Africa must belong to all who live in it.

We will continue with the struggle that Comrade Mpeku fought for until his last his last days. We will honour him by singing the struggle songs which he enjoyed while he was still with us.

Source: Abahlali baseMjondolo