Soon afterwards the 10 men reappeared; this time six of them were carrying handguns, which they pointed at Ndovela and another companion.<\/p>\n
He then realised that Hlope \u201cappeared to have armed them and dropped them off out of sight behind Block 49 in order to ambush them as they left\u201d, the statement goes on.<\/p>\n
Shooting erupted and Ndovela took refuge in a kitchen. He states he later found Siyepu dead in a passageway in a pool of blood.<\/p>\n
Burger says that, according to Ndovela, he had omitted Hlope\u2019s name from his initial statement about the incident to the police after the investigating officer told him this was irrelevant information.<\/p>\n
He was a “sitting duck”<\/strong><\/p>\n On the day of Ndovela\u2019s death she was intending to accompany him to Umlazi police station, she says \u2013 he was too nervous to go on his own \u2013 to make a supplementary statement implicating Hlope by name.<\/p>\n \u201cNdovela was a sitting duck,\u201d she says. \u201cAt the identity parade he pointed out four guys that shot Fikile. His family was being harassed; his wife was told he wouldn\u2019t see court.\u201d<\/p>\n Hlope is facing attempted murder charges in connection with an attack on Mzikayise Mbekela, who was shot in the ankle and struck on the head with an axe at the hostel\u2019s Block 56 on April 26 this year.<\/p>\n He appeared in court for a second time on May 21 and the case was postponed. Burger, who attended the hearing, says Hlope was not asked to plead and has yet to testify.<\/p>\n The number of violent deaths at Glebelands since early last year is disputed. KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Colonel Jay Naicker put the figure at 15.<\/p>\n But according to Burger and KwaZulu-Natal violence monitor Mary de Haas, Ndovela\u2019s death followed six other Glebelands murders this year: Phumlani Ndlovu (January 16), Siyepu (February 15), Simeko Nhlela and Siniko Ncayiyana (March 25), Fikile Jumbile (April 2) and Thulani Kati (April 10).<\/p>\n Subsequent murders have brought to 21 the confirmed death toll since February 2014, Burger says. A further eight killings reported by hostel residents were unconfirmed.<\/p>\n No sign of Premier’s R10.m security plan<\/strong><\/p>\n The continuing violence is a sad reflection on KwaZulu-Natal Premier Senzo Mchunu\u2019s much-trumpeted announcement last September of a R10-million security plan at Glebelands, including CCTV cameras, access control and fencing, and the deployment of a special police unit.<\/p>\n Mchunu also dissolved the block committees, accusing them of stoking violence by illegally selling hostel beds. Residents told amaBhungane<\/em> that the committees had been the only forum for them to air their views and complaints.<\/p>\n The violence has raged on, as Burger, De Haas and Vusi Zweni of the hostel dwellers\u2019 association told national police commissioner Riah Phiyega, Police Minister Nathi Nhleko and the acting head of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID), Israel Kgamanyane, in an open letter this year.<\/p>\n Burger, who has collected dozens of statements from residents, many seen by amaBhungane<\/em>, says Hlope has been repeatedly fingered by victims. \u201cI have taken 50 statements from victims linking Hlope to violence or illegal evictions. Seventeen of them went on to open cases at the Umlazi police station; I have the case numbers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n One of these was a sworn affidavit by a female Glebelands resident, Philile Ngubane, implicating him in her eviction.<\/p>\n \u201cSome are too fearful to mention his name \u2013 they say \u2018you know who we mean\u2019, and if you ask if they mean Bongani Hlope, they say \u2018yes\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Burger and two Glebelands residents amaBhungane<\/em> interviewed, the block chairpersons were initially targeted.<\/p>\n \u201cHe won control of eight blocks by forcing out existing structures and now he does a collection \u2013 he tells residents he needs herbs and guns to protect his guys. He charges R50 to R100 per resident. It\u2019s usually once a month; it can be more often.\u201d<\/p>\n Community live in fear of one man<\/strong><\/p>\n A source who pleaded not to be named, saying: \u201cHe can kill me today, not tomorrow\u201d, alleging that: \u201cHe keeps holding meetings and I still hear shooting \u2013 and people are still dying.\u201d<\/p>\n He admits that he pays protection money. \u201cA person died for refusing the other day,\u201d he claims.<\/p>\n A few weeks earlier, the amaBhungane reporter met traditional healer Patrick Shozi (37), who said Hlope convened a meeting in Block 42 where he told block occupants to pay R50 \u201cto buy guns and herbs to protect you against the guys with guns\u201d.<\/p>\n When Shozi refused, he alleged there were various attempts on his life, including an incident in which close to 20 shots were fired at him and a companion at the hostel.<\/p>\n \u201cThursdays to Sundays are the worst days,\u201d Shozi told me. \u201cPeople earn money during the week, so at the weekend it seems they celebrate \u2013 with our blood.\u201d<\/p>\n That night, while Shozi was away, his room was broken into and ransacked and his possessions burnt.<\/p>\n The next day, Burger and an amaBhungane<\/em> reporter found him in Umlazi nervously pacing and making repeated phone calls.\u00a0 He wanted to retrieve his belongings from his room, but Hlope was reported to be holding a meeting there.<\/p>\n Sitting on the ground, his head in his hands, Shozi started crying:\u00a0 \u201cAll the people are gathering outside the building, even though the premier said no more gatherings at Glebelands.<\/p>\n “Mr Hlope is there having a meeting \u2026 he spat at my door; he\u2019s asking where is the healer who lives there. There are gentlemen there carrying assegais; now I\u2019m very afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n We followed him to the Umlazi police station, and while he made a statement, Burger asked an officer to arrange for an escort to accompany Shozi to his room.<\/p>\n The officer mentioned that two women had been shot and injured at Shozi\u2019s block the previous night. She also said that an illegal meeting at Block 52 had just been dispersed by police.<\/p>\n Victims all name same suspect but don’t make statements<\/strong><\/p>\n She then referred Burger to Colonel KD Singh, the Umlazi head of detectives in charge of all Glebelands cases, who told her many arrests had been made at the hostel since 2010.<\/p>\n His biggest problem, he said, was that people didn\u2019t come forward to make statements about violent incidents.<\/p>\n \u201cI have 50 cases on file, and all of the victims mention Hlope,\u201d Burger said. \u201cI sympathise with people who open cases and then nothing happens.\u201d<\/p>\n Shozi and two amaBhungane<\/em> reporters headed back to Glebelands, escorted by three police vehicles. Three plainclothes detectives accompanied them upstairs to his room.<\/p>\n Inside, chaos confronted them: the room had been ransacked and the furniture, including an open fridge, lay overturned on the floor. Shozi rested his head on a concrete slab outside the room, a deep rasp of misery emanating from his chest.<\/p>\n They made their way to the back of the block where most of his belongings \u2013 clothing, traditional medicine he had collected from as far afield as Mozambique and Malawi and his grandfather\u2019s muti bag \u2013 had been torched.<\/p>\n 50 police officers needed to protect one man<\/strong><\/p>\n They looked on as Shozi retrieved the only salvageable item, his traditional healer\u2019s vest, and carefully placed it in a plastic sleeve lying in the ash.<\/p>\n As they stood there, Shozi received an anonymous phone call. He was being watched, the caller warned, and could be killed right there and then.<\/p>\n The amaBhungane<\/em> reporters hurried to their vehicles with Shozi, and made their way to the Glebelands sports ground, where they were joined by about 50 police officers in bullet-proof vests. They escorted Shozi to his room and helped him move his furniture to safety.<\/p>\n Later that week Burger told the amaBhungane<\/em> reporters that police had unsuccessfully raided Hlope\u2019s room in Block 52 for firearms.<\/p>\n Three days after Sipho Ndovela was shot dead outside the Umlazi Magistrate\u2019s Court, Hlope appeared at the same court, amid a heavy security presence, on charges of attempted murder.<\/p>\n The case was postponed until July 7 after the magistrate, citing a conflict of interest because she had heard Ndovela\u2019s May 18 case, asked for it to be transferred to a another court. Hlope is out on bail.<\/p>\n Since then, according to Burger, residents reported four more Glebelands killings; two were residents who have not yet been named.<\/p>\n One of the victims was Bongani Kati, brother of Thulani Kati, who was gunned down at Glebelands the day after Hlope\u2019s court appearance.<\/p>\n No direct evidence has been presented that Hlope was involved in these murders.<\/p>\n Bongani Hlope, named by numerous people as central to the continuing A source, who lived in the town at around the same time, estimates that Hlope was born in about 1986, which would make him about 30 years old.<\/p>\n Repeated attempts to contact him this week, including the sending of 10 detailed questions to his cellphone by SMS, drew no response.<\/p>\n According to Vanessa Burger, who works closely with the hostel dwellers\u2019 association, uBunye Bamahostela, Hlope previously lived at the Jacobs and KwaMashu hostels in Durban.<\/p>\n The source claimed that he was unwelcome in his home town and that his unpopularity relates to a robbery from a stokvel.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s the kind of person who loves money \u2013 he\u2019s doing all this at Glebelands for money \u2013 his main intention is to get rich.\u201d<\/p>\n The source remarked that Hlope is charismatic and persuasive: \u201cWhat I\u2019ve noticed is that he\u2019s really good at mobilising people to listen to him. He can convince people to do something to please him even if it\u2019s a bad thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Burger and others interviewed by amaBhungane say that his method is to work through others.<\/p>\n \u201cHe makes all the decisions,\u201d said one Glebelands resident. \u201cBut he doesn\u2019t go himself \u2013 he sends young men who are 20, 25 years old.\u201d<\/p>\n At least five people amaBhungane has interviewed allege that he is regularly seen in the company of a policeman based at the Berea police station in Durban.<\/p>\n Burger confirmed that this allegation has cropped up in the dozens of residents\u2019 statements she has collected.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are often seen driving around Glebelands together in the same vehicle, and attending ANC meetings together,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Last year, the Mail & Guardian published an amaBhungane article about Glebelands in which residents alleged that there was a connection between Hlope and a local ANC ward councillor, in whose company several residents claim to have seen him.<\/p>\n Asked about Hlope\u2019s alleged association with the Durban policeman, KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Colonel Jay Naicker said the provincial police commissioner had tasked the head of detectives in KwaZulu-Natal to investigate all Glebelands cases, but \u201cthis information has not surfaced in our investigation\u201d.<\/p>\n In an apparent tilt at Burger and De Haas, Naicker continued: \u201cWe are extremely concerned that organisations desperate for funding are peddling such information to the media in desperation to get media coverage for their funding, rather than having a genuine interest in solving the problems that exist in Glebelands.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a serious hindrance to our investigations and only serves to fuel further violence, as such individuals are aligning themselves with a certain group in the hostel.\u201d<\/p>\n He said the police would not be pressured into making premature arrests._ amaBhungane reporters<\/em><\/p>\n *<\/em><\/strong> Got a tip-off for us about this story? Click here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Still no convictions, despite statements from 50 victims in which the same perpetrator is named.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22920,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4188"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30833,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4188\/revisions\/30833"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Who is Bongani Hlope?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nGlebelands Hostel violence, was apparently born in Umkomaas, on KwaZulu-Natal\u2019s south coast.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/amabhungane.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/94x94.jpg\")
<\/a>The M&G<\/em> Centre for Investigative Journalism (amaBhungane) produced this story. All views are ours. See www.amabhungane.co.za <\/a> for our stories, activities and funding sources.<\/strong><\/p>\n