Activist once dubbed 'poo thrower in chief' gunned down in Cape Town

Activist and former political party campaigner Loyiso Nkohla — who earned the nickname “poo thrower in chief” for his controversial faeces-dumping protests — was shot dead in Cape Town on Monday.

Deputy minister of rural development and land reform Mcebisi Skwatsha, who was at the scene, described the incident to TimesLIVE as an apparent “assassination”.

Police spokesperson W/O Joseph Swartbooi said: “Nyanga police responded to a complaint this morning ... Upon arrival at Philippi railway station, they found the body of a 40-year-old male who sustained fatal injuries as a result of gunshot wounds.

“The victim was declared deceased on the scene by the medical personnel. Reports suggested that two females and one male who also sustained injuries were transported to a nearby hospital for medical treatment with private transport.

“The unknown suspects fled the scene and are yet to be arrested. The motive is yet to be determined.”

Nkohla rose to national prominence around 2010, when he led the unconventional “poo protests”, transporting portable toilets from informal settlements and dumping their contents at the provincial legislature and Cape Town International Airport.

This, he said at the time, when he was an ANC councillor, was to highlight poor sanitation in informal settlements. TimesLIVE reported that he was expelled from the party as a consequence.

Nkohla formed the Land Party to contest the national elections in 2019 but later quit and worked for the City of Cape Town. He left politics after failing to be elected as a Patriotic Alliance (PA) councillor in the city in the 2021 local government elections.

Skwatsha said he was advised “about the unfortunate assassination of [Nkohla] a former member of the ANC and the ANC Youth League ... someone who was a community activist, very passionate about the plight of the severely downtrodden in particular.

“I came here and on arrival I found his dear wife on the scene. It is an unfortunate situation ... that has to be condemned in the strongest terms possible. It is a situation where I would want to call on the law enforcement agencies to leave no stone unturned in making sure that this dastardly act and deed is brought to an end,” he added.

Good Party MP Brett Heron said in a tweet: “This is shocking and devastating news. Despite his controversies he was a valiant humanist and activist who was able to draw the world’s attention to dire living conditions in informal settlements. He spoke truth to power fearlessly.” 

TimesLIVE

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