The following is based on a communication written by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and other UN experts to the Government of South Africa on 16 May 2025. The communication remained confidential for 60 days before being made public, giving the Government time to reply. The Government of South Africa replied on 4 June 2025, noting that they have referred the information in the letter to the Minister of Police for urgent action and immediate response to the concerns raised.
Since the communication was sent, the hitmen that had been arrested were released on bail in May 2025. The human rights defender is therefore back in hiding. Furthermore, attacks on community members who are fighting for their rights persisted.
This is a shorter version of the original communication.
BACKGROUND
Topic: the reported repeated death threats and killing attempts since 2013 targeting a human rights defender in South Africa.
The human rights defender [whose name has been redacted for security reasons], is a land rights defender who has been opposing the start of a mining operation due to the impact it has on the community and their land.
We have previously raised concerns regarding the killing of a woman human rights defender and an environmental and land rights leader opposing the expansion of a coal mine in ZAF 3/2020. We regret not receiving a reply from the Government to this communication.
ALLEGATIONS
In 2013, the human rights defender [name redacted] reportedly received information from members of the community that three hitmen, allegedly hired [redacted], were mandated to kill [redacted]. Thanks to the mobilisation of the community, the hitmen were stopped. The human rights defender was reportedly targeted because their human rights activism was believed to be disturbing the work of the company. The incident was reported to police, but no action was reportedly taken.
In 2022, during a meeting held [redacted] with businesspeople, the human rights defender [name redacted] was reportedly again referred to as disturbing the work of the company and as someone that must be eliminated. The threat did not materialize reportedly thanks to the support of community members and acquaintances of the human rights defender, who would also be affected by the operations of the company and reportedly informed the human rights defender about the potential risks they were facing.
In 2024 [exact date redacted], [names redacted] were approached by a young person, who started asking questions to the human rights defender and reportedly pointed a gun at them. After a brief confrontation, the attacker allegedly fired several gunshots against [name redacted]. The human rights defender was not hit and reportedly managed to escape. In 2024 [exact date redacted], a suspect was reportedly arrested and put in custody. However, the human rights defender has allegedly not yet been called to testify.
In 2025 [exact date redacted], a meeting was scheduled to take place. Allegedly, businessmen participating in the meeting showed up with guns and asked where the human rights defender was. The human rights defender had decided not to attend the meeting for safety reasons.
The human rights defender has reportedly been in hiding since 2024, due to the threats received and the attempts on their life, which the human rights defender fears might reoccur. Allegedly, they had been warned that they would be killed by December 2024. No protection has reportedly been provided to the human rights defender by the police.
The information received suggests that the threats against the human rights defender are not isolated incidents, and other land rights activists opposing mining activities have been facing similar attacks, threats and acts of intimidation. While some of these incidents remained unpunished, those who recently threatened [names redacted] were reportedly arrested and are in custody, awaiting to appear before the court for the third time in May 2025.
CONCERNS
In the communication, we express our most serious concern about the reported death threats and killing attempts targeting [name redacted] because of their legitimate human rights work on the protection of the rights of the community, including land rights and their right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, and because of the exercise of their right to freedom of expression in opposition to the mining operations in the area. These threats and attacks may pose a real risk to the human rights defender’s life. We are alarmed that they had to go into hiding for fear of their life, safety and security. We are also particularly concerned about the repeated character of these threats since 2013, as well as about reports that the attacks against [name redacted] are not isolated incidents. These acts have a chilling effect on the ability of human rights defenders, including those protecting their land and livelihoods, to carry out their legitimate work without fear of intimidation or reprisals.
In her report to the Human Rights Council in 2020, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders highlighted the link between the killing of human rights defenders and death threats, noting that “[n]ot all death threats to human rights defenders are followed by a murder, and not all such murders are preceded by death threats. However, many killings are preceded by a threat.”
We would like to stress the South African Government’s obligation to act with due diligence under international human rights law to investigate the incidents and hold perpetrators to account. We call for an independent and impartial investigation into the incidents reported above and for steps to be taken to prevent further acts of intimidation and reprisals of land rights defenders and all those who are defending the right to a healthy environment in South Africa. We also call for immediate police protection to ensure the human rights defender’s safety.
