Ayanda Ngila was assassinated in the Ekhenana communal garden in Durban, South Africa, on the 8th of March, 2022. Ayanda was 30 years old and shot in broad daylight in the middle of the afternoon. He was fixing a water pipe in front of women and children and as he went down he yelled for people to take photos of the scene so the truth of his death could be known. Those are the words of a man who was expecting to be killed and was clearly at the center of a conflict that he imagined would end in his death.

Ayanda was a land activist and part of the organization Abahlali baseMjondolo, who have spent almost two decades fighting for the rights of the poor in South Africa. This story is about an assassination, but also about the violence you can face when you fight for your basic human rights like food, water and shelter.

This is a four-part podcast series produced and presented by Paul McNally for Develop Audio.

Music was composed by John Bartmann. Mixing and Mastering by Danny Booysen. This series was made possible with the financial support of The Henry Nxumalo Foundation. Check out their work at https://henrynxumalofoundation.co.za/ 

Thanks to the Mail & Guardian for agreeing to be the publishing partner for this series - you can find this and other podcasts on their site mg.co.za.