PAC activists to be reburied

THE families of PAC martyrs Gqibile Nicholas Hans and Jonas Jabavu will finally get closure when their exhumed bodies are handed over for reburial in Paarl this weekend.

The bodies of Hans and Jabavu, who were hanged at the Pretoria Central Prison, are expected to be handed over for reburial on Sunday.

They were hanged at the prison gallows for incidents that took place during intense political turmoil between 1963 and 1967.

Justice and Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha will preside over the ceremony at the Embekweni Community Hall, Paarl.

The handover is part of the gallows project which entails the exhumation, handover and reburial of the remains of political prisoners who were hanged at the Pretoria Central Prison gallows and buried in unmarked graves.

The project was launched in March 2016 at Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre in Gauteng, in recognition of the sacrifice of political prisoners who were judicially executed between 1960 and 1990.

In that year, the Missing Persons Task Team and the TRC unit exhumed 105 bodies of freedom fighters.

On the Gallows Exhumation Project, out of 83 of those who were hanged, 37 bodies belonged to members of the UDF and the PAC.

In November last year, the exhumed remains of 12 UDF political activists in Port Elizabeth were handed to their families for reburial.

Lungile Rewu, Sipho Mahala, Thobile Lloyd, Siphiwo Lande, Kholisile Dyakala, Zwelidumile Mjekula, Benjamin Mlondolozi Gxothiwe, Tsepo Letsoara, Ndumiso Silo Siphenuka, Makhezwene Menze, Raymond Welile Gwebushe, Mangena Jeffrey Boesman were all buried as paupers in unmarked graves in Mamelodi cemetery, within hours of being hanged.

And at that time, bodies of hanged prisoners remained the property of the state and families were not permitted to attend the burials.