'''Gabriel Mkhumane''' (died April 1, 2008) was a Swazi physician and opposition leader. He was the deputy president of the People's United Democratic Movement (Pudemo), Swaziland's main opposition party.<ref name=mg>{{cite news|url=http://www.mg.co.za/article/2008-04-24-who-killed-pudemo-leader|title=Who killed Pudemo leader?|last=Nxumalo|first=Donny|date=2008-04-24|work=Mail and Guardian|accessdate=2008-07-30}}</ref>
Once working as a physician at Themba Hospital in Nelspruit, Mkhumane was in self-imposed exile, having left Swaziland in 1984<ref name=ssn>{{cite news|title=Murder will not go unpunished|date=2008-04-02|work=Swaziland Solidarity Network}}</ref> to live in Maputo, then in Cuba, where he received his medical training and lived for 15 years.<ref name=ssn/> According to the ''Swaziland Solidarity Network'', he provided the impoverished with free medical services.<ref name=ssn/> To be nearer to his home country, Mkhumane settled in South Africa in 2000.<ref name=mg/><ref name=ssn/> He was married to Soraida and had two sons, Lizwi and Lizo (three weeks old at the time of his father's death).<ref name=ssn/> Despite his exile, he had been active in Pudemo-related activities such as marketing the Kingdom as an oppressive regime which hates democracy.<ref name=observer>{{cite news|title=PUDEMO Chief shot dead|last=Nxumalo|first=Donny|date=2008-04-03|work=The Swazi Observer}}</ref>
Mkhumane was murdered on April 1, 2008, in Nelspruit, after attending a meeting to discuss blocking goods travelling to Swaziland.<ref name=mg/> The annual blockade was to be held on April 12, the anniversary of when King Sobhuza II outlawed all political parties.<ref name=mg/> It was later called off due to Mkhumane's death.<ref name=mg/> He was gunned down in an ambush on his car and his killers quickly left after the crime.<ref name=observer/> The official version of his murder is that he was killed in a random act of villainy, although some Pudemo supporters disagree, including its president, Mario Masuku.<ref name=mg/> They claim Mkhumane was murdered by the Swazi government, pointing to the fact that Swazi police told his mother that he would come home "wrapped in a black bag" hours before his death was reported.<ref name=mg/> His family members also claimed he began fearing for his life shortly before his death.<ref name="times">{{cite news|url=http://www.thetimes.co.za/PrintArticle.aspx?ID=758502 |title=Why no outcry over Swaziland? |last=Msomi |first=S’Thembiso |work=The Times of Zimbabwe |accessdate=2008-07-30 }}{{dead link|date=January 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mkhumane, Gabriel}} Category:Year of birth missing Category:2008 deaths Category:Swazi expatriates in South Africa Category:Deaths by firearm in South Africa Category:Swazi murder victims Category:Swazi people murdered abroad Category:People murdered in South Africa Category:People's United Democratic Movement members