We are being hunted, say SA’s human rights defenders amid rising attacks

“When I was in hiding, I wanted to test the people who were targeting us. I went to my house and parked outside just to see what they would do. They came and shot in and around the house because they thought I was inside. This is how crazy they are.”

These were the words of Israel Nkosi, a member of the Mfolozi Community Environmental Justice Organisation who has been intimidated, harassed and even attacked because he and fellow members of the organisation oppose the expansion of the Tendele Coal Mine in KwaZulu-Natal.

Nkosi is a member of the same grassroots organisation as Fikile Ntshangase, and is doing the same work that Mam’Fikile, as she is often referred, was doing when she was shot dead in her home on 22 October 2022. Her killers have still not been caught and brought to justice.

While the experiences of human rights defenders seldom make headlines until community leaders are tragically killed, a coalition of civil society organisations is actively working to change this, giving social, political and environmental activists from rural areas in South Africa a platform to share their experiences of harassment, intimidation and assassination.

On Wednesday, 22 October 2025, activists from across South Africa filled a conference room at the Women’s Jail at Constitution Hill, Johannesburg, for the Human Rights Defenders People’s Hearing 2025, where whistleblowers, community leaders and activists from KwaZulu-Natal shared powerful testimonies of their lived experiences of harassment and attacks they experienced for standing up to state and corporate interests.

The hearing was organised by the Life After Coal campaign, a coalition of Earthlife Africa, groundWork, and the Centre for Environmental Rights to amplify the voices of human rights defenders and communities under threat, raise public awareness and mobilise solidarity, and push for concrete policy and legislative reforms to ensure accountability and protection.

Read more: The terrible price of speaking the truth and the human cost of justice delayed

Targeting of activists

From Xolobeni (Eastern Cape) to Somkhele, Makhasaneni and Mzumbe (KwaZulu-Natal), whistleblowers, community leaders and activists continue to stand up to powerful state and corporate interests, often at great personal risk.

Billy Mnqondo, a member of the Mfolozi Community Environmental Justice Organisation, said that when the community received word that a mine was going to start extracting coal in the area in 2013, the news brought the hope of employment and development in the area. 

What the community did not anticipate was that the mining operation would dispossess them of the land they grew up on, crack the houses of the people who chose to remain, pollute the air and water and contaminate livestock, bringing coal-related illnesses to the community.

But above all, Mnqondo said, the worst consequences that activists in the community experienced were the threats, intimidation and violence as a result of their resistance to mining activities.

According to the activist, a community member’s house was allegedly completely demolished by the mine, simply because he refused to leave.

“The police did nothing about it. He laid a complaint with the police, and it just disappeared,” Mnqondo said.

Nkosi recounted how another Mfolozi Community Environmental Justice Organisation colleague living in an area close to the mine had his house shot at because he opposed the mine.

“He told me that he could hear them [the unnamed assailants] shouting, ‘You said you don’t want the mine, let’s see what you say in the morning’. They left 17 bullet holes behind. In the morning, he woke up and went straight to the mine and signed a memorandum of understanding. They gave him R10,000 to say sorry for what happened the previous day. Unfortunately, that man accepted. He could not continue living under threat. 

“All these things that I am mentioning are just to show that our Constitution, which says we have a right to a safe and healthy environment, is just for show. We are participating in our democracy, we are fighting for our communities, but instead of being protected, we are being hunted, we are being intimidated, we are being killed. The Constitution does not work for us,” Nkosi said. 

He added that the mining company was actively pushing division within the community as a result of Mfolozi Community Environmental Justice Organisation’s legal action, claiming that the company blamed the grassroots organisation for the retrenchment of workers.

“In the new mining area where they (Tendele) have expanded, just 5km from my house, they have stopped mining. They have told the community that they have stopped mining because of these Mfolozi Community Environmental Justice Organisation guys. They told them: ‘We are no more going to employ you guys, if you want jobs, go talk to Israel. Go find them because they are the ones who are blocking us.’ That alone shows that they are pushing the violence in the community,” Nkosi said. 

What Mfolozi Community Environmental Justice Organisation members are experiencing is not unique to them, but is also affecting communities in Xolobeni, Eastern Cape, where the Amadiba Crisis Committee, a grassroots movement, has been opposing titanium mining in the area.

Baliwe Dlamini, an Amadiba Crisis Committee member, described how she and fellow protestors were beaten and assaulted by the police in 2020 for protesting against the Xolobeni mine.

“We just wanted to talk to the MEC, and the police sprayed teargas in our eyes, and since then my eyes have been permanently damaged. But beyond that, I am mentally damaged and I am emotionally damaged,” she said.

Protecting human rights defenders 

Since 2020, Life After Coal has done extensive work marching and organising events to highlight the work and the dangers facing South Africa’s human rights defenders, and to petition the government to take action.

“We have gone to the Presidency over the last few years, we have gone to the Union Buildings. We have gone to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate. We have gone to the National Prosecuting Authority. We have gone to the Department of Justice, South African Police Service, and we have raised the issue of human rights defenders at the Presidential Climate Commission, indicating that we will not have a Just Transition until people are held accountable for the murders of human rights defenders. The response has been nothing; there has only been silence,” said Bobby Peak, the director of GroundWork.

Peak added that Life After Coal would compile the stories of hardship, intimidation and violent attacks shared during the people’s hearing and present them to Parliament in the hope that the report would spur the government into action.

Speaking to Daily Maverick, Sifiso Dlala, a campaigner for human rights defenders at GroundWork, said that despite South Africa’s Constitution, there was currently no dedicated legislation protecting human rights defenders. Existing laws, such as the Protected Disclosures Act (2000), meant to safeguard whistleblowers, had proven inadequate, leaving activists vulnerable to retaliation and violence.

“We do not have a problem with pieces of legislation. We have a problem with implementation and enforcement,” he said.

Dlala believes the country’s legal framework must evolve to recognise the unique risks faced by those who defend environmental, social and community rights.

“We want to lobby Parliament for legislation that recognises and protects human rights defenders. We want it to come from the bottom up, so that people influence it, not just politicians.”

Such a law, Dladla argues, should include three key pillars:

• Formal recognition of human rights defenders and whistleblowers.
• Clear legal obligations for police, prosecutors and the judiciary to prioritise their protection.
• Accountability mechanisms to ensure that attacks on defenders are thoroughly investigated and prosecuted.

“We’re not asking for charity. We’re asking for recognition, for protection, and for a country that protects those who protect it,” Dladla said. 

In response to the allegations raised by members of the Mfolozi Community Environmental Justice Organisation, Nathi Kunene, Business Development Director at Tendele Mining, denied that it or its representatives had been involved, directly or indirectly, in acts of intimidation, harassment or violence against community members opposing its operations.

Kunene stated that Tendele was operating fully within the law and held all required mining and environmental authorisations. 

According to Kunene, over the past three years, Tendele had conducted extensive public participation processes, hosting more than 30 community meetings attended by government officials, traditional leaders and local representatives. 

“The record before the minister now exceeds 13,000 pages,” Kunene said.

An independent environmental specialist, Kunene added, had concluded that there was “absolutely no reason why Tendele should not continue its operations”. Once the mine returned to full production, it said, it expected to directly and indirectly employ more than 1,200 people, positively affecting the livelihoods of more than 20,000 community members.

Kunene further denied ever making payments in connection with incidents of violence or intimidation and referred to a Right of Reply published by Daily Maverick last year, in which several local community leaders dismissed many of the allegations made by the Mfolozi Community Environmental Justice Organisation.

“The same leaders continue to affirm their commitment to working with Tendele to support peace, employment and development in the Mpukunyoni area,” Kuneve said, adding that Tendele remained focused on lawful operations, constructive engagement, and promoting stability and economic dignity for all stakeholders. DM