Boots on the Ground: Behind SA’s National Headlines

PODCAST | Murdered over a mine: the story of Fikile Ntshangase's assassination

17 November 2020 - 10:48 By Matthew Savides, Orrin Singh and Paige Muller
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A photograph of Fikile Ntshangase next to a bullet hole in the floor of her lounge at her home in Ophondweni in northern KwaZulu-Natal.
A photograph of Fikile Ntshangase next to a bullet hole in the floor of her lounge at her home in Ophondweni in northern KwaZulu-Natal.
Image: Sandile Ndlovu

Six bullets. That’s what it took to silence 65-year-old KwaZulu-Natal grandmother and anti-mine activist Fikile Ntshangase.

Her crime? Standing firm in opposition to the expansion of a coal mine in her community.

In this episode of Boots on the Ground: Behind SA’s National Headlines, we look into the assassination of uMama Ntshangase, an anti-mine activist from northern KwaZulu-Natal, and we consider the environment of intimidation in which she and other vocal anti-mine activists find themselves.

Listen to the story: 

The Boots on the Ground podcast is dedicated to unravelling some of SA’s biggest news stories. It follows Sunday Times reporters as they investigate the stories making the headlines. 

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