Mokoena Letsie (40) was an outspoken critic of Netanyahu and the Zionist regime in Israeli. He supported Palestinian freedom and many other causes at home in South Africa and around the world.

He was assassinated at his own home in North West province

S.Africa on Wednesday 27 May by 2 gunmen who shot him with 16 bullets.

 

A memorial service was held on Wednesday 4 June. People said “Our hearts are broken.”

 

Mokoena was a political activist and leader of the Solidarity Action Community Collective movement.

Mokoena was known as a man who put his people’s needs before his own. His younger brother, Peete Letsie said this week that his family is broken after losing a father brother and husband ‘who cared deeply for his family’.

 

SAFTU (South African Federation of Trade Unions) has condemned in the strongest possible terms the brutal assassination of community activist and organiser Mokoena Letsie, who was gunned down in Potchefstroom in what all indications suggest was a targeted political killing.

A statement issued on behalf of SAFTU by the General Secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi, reads:
‘According to reports, Comrade Letsie was shot sixteen times at point-blank range by two armed assassins.
This was not an ordinary criminal act.
This bears all the hallmarks of a calculated political assassination aimed at silencing a militant voice of the poor, the working class, and shack dwellers.

 

SAFTU sends its deepest condolences to the family, friends, comrades, and the broader community structures with whom Comrade Letsie worked tirelessly.

 

We are deeply alarmed that this is reportedly not the first attempt on his life.
The allegations that his shack had previously been sprayed with bullets and that he had received threats over a prolonged period demand urgent and independent investigation.

 

South Africa cannot normalise the assassination of activists, whistleblowers, community organisers, trade unionists, and political dissidents.
The growing trend of violence against those who organise poor communities and challenge corruption, landlessness, inequality, evictions, and social injustice is a direct threat to democracy itself.

Comrade Mokoena Letsie reportedly organised among informal settlement communities, fought against the brutalisation of shack dwellers, and stood firmly in solidarity with oppressed people internationally, including the people of Palestine.

SAFTU calls on the South African Police Service to leave no stone unturned in identifying:

  • The gunmen who carried out this murder

  • Those who financed the assassination

  • Those who planned and ordered it; and

  • Any political, criminal, or business networks connected to this killing.

 

The investigation must be handled with urgency, professionalism, transparency, and independence. South Africans have seen too many political killings end without arrests, prosecutions, or convictions. Impunity only encourages further assassinations.

 

The investigation must examine the possibility/probability of Mossad involvement in the killing.