IRIN, the newsletter of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, reported in April 2010 that "The rise of an organised poor people's movement [Abahlali baseMjondolo] in South Africa's most populous province, KwaZulu-Natal, is being met with increasing hostility by the ruling African National Congress (ANC) government" and in April 2013 the movement successfully sued the Minister of Police for violence against three of its members. On 26 June 2013, local AbM leader Nkululeko Gwala was assassinated in the Cato Crest shack settlement in Durban. He had led protests over the distribution of public housing and was shot 12 times. Hours before the murder, an ANC politician had said he was a trouble-maker. Another local activist had been previously shot dead in March. Nqobile Nzuza was shot dead by police at the Durban Marikana land occupation in September 2013, at the age of 17. After five years, Phumlani Ndlovu (a Cato Manor police officer) was jailed for 10 years. Another Abahlali baseMjondolo member was killed on 29 September 2014. Thuli Ndlovu, the movement chairperson for KwaNdengezi was assassinated in her home after disputes with a local councillor over housing allocation. AbM accused the councillor of having a hand in the assassination. On 27 February 2015, the local councillor, Mduduzi Ngcobo, was arrested on suspicion of being behind the murder. Ngcobo and Velile Lutsheko (another ANC councillor) were sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder. Mlungisi Ndlovu, the gunman they had hired, was handed a sentence of 12 years in jail. After a call was made for eThekwini Mayor Zandile Gumede to step down to face charges of racketeering and fraud, the Durban offices of AbM were burgled in May 2019. No money was taken but two computer hard drives were stolen. When Zikode said he was concerned by the timing of the burglary, the mayor's representative replied: "This is an old, repeated, fabricated allegation by Abahlali … they must approach relevant security agencies if they have evidence instead of the media". Despite a moratorium on evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, the eKhenana shanty town in Cato Crest, Durban, was attacked by the local anti-land invasion unit and private security companies.