Marching for Injustice...

By: Warrick Smith


The distant call of the rallying vuvuzela on a cold spring morning in Vukani, an area terrorised by crime as it escalates weekly. The crowd is small at first but once the people organise themselves, the singing then starts bringing more to join in the group. Young girls hold up placards denouncing crime in the area and calling for the arrest of a man named Ayanda. We as journalism students stand there oblivious to the underlying problem behind the march.

“If we don’t go march, one of the families threatens to murder us… We march and support whoever because we are afraid… The police can’t save us, they can’t save anyone”. This is the statement from a woman known as Ellen. The families consist of two groups, people who are from Ayanda’s side and the other from Nikelo’s side. There is no blood relation, people are expected to choose sides or face the consequences. If you are not with them, you are against them.


This ‘family feud’ has been raging for years according to Ellen, since the death of Nikelo’s brother. Ayanda was blamed for the murder and was arrested but not charged nor held. While Ayanda was imprisoned, Nikelo sought revenge against Ayanda’s cousin. Both men are now sworn enemies yet the irony lies in that they live only 100 metres from each other. The community has been ravaged ever since as a witch-hunt ensues pulling everyone down with it. The reason for the march today, which was covered as an anti-crime march, is solely to have Ayanda and his followers imprisoned.


The protesters, lead by Nikelo, walk the four kilometres from Vukani to the Grahamstown Magistrate with a petition to have Ayanda and members of his “gang” arrested. The tables turn for Nikelo however as his entry into the courthouse leads to his arrest on the terms of assault with the intention to do deadly harm. An entrapment most likely set up by Ayanda.


The protesters wait outside the courthouse with their placards for what seems ages before they slowly begin to shuffle back to Vukani, none the wiser as to what has happened with Nikelo inside. These people are trapped in between this deadly feud, unable to free themselves nor change their circumstances. “We often march to the court for things which we want solved only to be told to ‘keep quiet and wait outside’. No one cares for us. We are stuck”, says Ellen.


Nikelo was released from police custody on bail on 24 September. He has since then sworn revenge against Ayanda. It is unlikely that he will be marching to the Grahamstown Magistrate to seek retribution.