“I still can’t believe it. My poor baby; he had a bright future. My heart is shattered for my baby. It all feels like a dream.”
That is how Nocawe Gladile, the mother of slain prominent lawyer, activist and EFF founding member in the province, Ayanda Gladile, detailed the pain of losing her son in a shooting.
Gladile, 34, who was killed in Makhaza, Khayelitsha on Sunday, was shot multiple times apparently while intervening in a robbery that had occurred near his home.
Speaking to the Cape Times on Monday, Gladile, said a neighbour came to fetch her, telling her that her son had been shot.
“I ran out to see what had happened and I saw police vans and ambulances.
That's when I knew that he was dead.
I still didn't believe that he was dead. I wanted to see him, but the police told me to wait for forensics to come and sweep the scene for fingerprints.
I couldn’t believe what was happening.”
She said Ayanda was with his friends when he was murdered. She was still puzzled by the motive.
“No one has come to tell me what exactly happened to my son. They were drinking together but I don't know what led to the shooting. No one is coming forward with what happened, even though there were people with him, they know everything. Everyone has distanced themselves,” said the distraught mother.
Police have not arrested anyone in connection with the murder.
Police spokesperson Malcolm Pojie said officers responded to the shooting at 4:50pm.
“On arrival at the scene, the members found the deceased who had already succumbed to a gunshot wound sustained to his neck. Police and forensic experts combed the scene for clues, but no arrests have been made yet,” he said.
Gladile previously served the EFF Cape Metro region as head of political education and convenor of EFF Zone 6 and Zone 7 respectively.
EFF chief whip Banzi Dambuza said the party was devastated by the young advocate’s death.
“He was at the start and building of EFF in the province, served the black masses as much as he could and was always at the heart of the masses, he grew the cause.
“Ayanda served the EFF when it was unfashionable to do so.
“In 2014 his home was burnt down while he was out doing work for the party, this was a stern warning to step aside but he continued and stood firm, ensuring that the EFF is where it is today.
“Coming from an impoverished background, he went to school and became a lawyer, dealing with criminal law and land law.
“Even after he became a lawyer he served the masses of his community gracefully.
“We were there as the EFF when police took his body away.
“We want to register that those who started and formed the EFF are being killed, particularly in Khayelitsha and the Cape Flats.
“Today we are mourning another loss of one of our own and we don't want the minister of police to visit Ayanda’s home because it yields nothing.
“We have people like Loyiso Nkohla who was also killed, and no arrest made.
But the struggle continues.” The incident has also left the legal fraternity reeling in shock, with the Black Lawyers Association (BLA) highlighting such killings as a worrying recurrence.
The organisation’s provincial chairperson advocate Zuko Mapoma said: “We are concerned that this phenomenon of the killing of black lawyers in their own communities is undesirably getting too common. The unfortunate irony is that advocate Gladile has dedicated his life to live in the midst of our people and be immediately accessible to help dispense justice in service of the desperate and vulnerable communities, yet he gets killed within the very community he makes sacrifices to serve.
We pass our sincere condolences to the Gladile family and friends and assure them that we grieve with them during this difficult moment of the loss of their loved one.”
The Black People’s National Crisis Committee (BPNCC), said: “Advocate Ayanda Gladile was one of the progressive black advocates who stood up to the challenge during the Fees Must Fall moment in Cape Town when students were arrested and offered his services pro bono and as a result many student activists avoided jail.”
Cape Times