Zim gardener Elvis Nyathi failed to produce a passport and they burnt him alive to ashes

The EFF says it will visit the family of Diepsloot mob attack victim Elvis Nyathi and ensure that justice is served.

Elvis Nyathi, a 43-year-old Zimbabwean working in South Africa as a gardener, was stoned and burnt to death overnight by a vigilante group moving door-to-door through the informal settlement, challenging residents to produce passports and identity documents to prove their nationality.

EFF national spokesperson Sinawo Tambo said the party was dismayed and saddened by the painful news.

“We send our deepest condolences to his beloved ones, who have been robbed in the most brutal manner of a father, a husband and a son. May his soul rest in peace,” he said.

“The painful images which are populating SA television screens today are the ashes of what was once a human being, who was burnt alive simply because he could not provide a passport to individuals who have taken the law into their own hands.”

The EFF denounced people trying to enforce a “dompas” system in Johannesburg, campaigns which have resulted in harassment, invasion of property, theft, assault and extortion.

“The EFF has long warned that if the various groups mushrooming on the anti-immigration ticket are not stopped, it will end in a loss of life. It is unfortunate that in this instance, we have been proven correct.

“These vigilante groups attribute all crimes in this country to foreign nationals, without any scientific or crime statistics to corroborate their claims. As a result, it has become a syndicate that extorts people, hijacks houses, loots African-owned retail outlets, burns the stores of Africans and today burns a human being to ashes.

“These are the consequences of endorsing and sponsoring vigilante groups by popular media and the ruling party itself, which seeks to scapegoat its inability to fight crime, create jobs and provide adequate health care to foreign nationals,” the EFF charged.

“Domestic violence and abuse is perpetuated by the men of this country and the infiltration of drugs in our communities is enabled by South Africans themselves.”