The long-awaited Moerane Commission's report into political killings in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) has finally been released and has shed more light on the more than 100 deaths linked to the infamous Glebelands Hostel.
The commission, tasked with investigating killings over seven years, was set up in 2016 by Premier Willis Mchunu and chaired by advocate Marumo Moerane.
According to a Moerane Commission witness, activist Vanessa Burger, there have been more than 100 deaths linked to the hostel in the past four years alone.
As part of harrowing testimony, the notorious Glebelands Hostel was described as a "hotbed for hitmen".
The commission visited the hostel in February where Major General Dumezweni Chiliza - a former Umlazi cluster commander - put forward that the killings were not political, but were the result of factional fighting over control of the leasing of beds.
News24's Kaveel Singh unpacks the numbers:
- 6: The number of pages listing political killings as being linked to the hostel since 2014. Since the six-page list was compiled, at least six more deaths, thought to be politically motivated, have occurred.
- 106: The number of deaths at the hostel since 2014
- 22 000: The number of people living at the hostel under extreme overcrowded conditions
- 71: The number of blocks at Glebelands Hostel that host the massive population.
- 10: The estimated number of people who live in hostel rooms designed to hold four people.
- 70%: The estimated percentage of unemployed people who live at the hostel.
- 21: The number of former block committee members or people directly or indirectly associated with the administration of the hostel, who were killed in 2015. There were 34 Glebelands-related deaths that year.
- 500: During the Moerane Commission, it was submitted that between March 2014 and October 2015, at least 500 people were directly affected by the violence in the form of torture and eviction.
- 23: the number of people who reported they had been violently or illegally evicted from rooms that were officially allocated to them.
- R15 000: The average cost to residents due to losses during evictions (clothing, furniture, food).
- 3 000: The number of people indirectly affected by violence at the hostel.
- R266 to R1 600: The average income of a resident. This was significantly reduced if a resident could not safely travel to work due to the constant violence.