State rebuked for not attending PAC burials

PAC provincial secretary Sandla Goqwana criticised the government for not taking part in the burial of the 17 Poqo members, whose remains were exhumed and brought back to their families in March.

The 17 Poqo members were among those hanged by the apartheid government between 1963 and 1967 and were buried in unmarked graves after being charged for various political crimes during the apartheid era.

Goqwana was speaking at the funeral of Jonathan Sogwagwa in Ntsingeni village in Cofimvaba on Saturday. Sogwagwa was hanged on September 27 1963.

Goqwana thanked the government for exhuming and handing the remains of the Poqo members to the families “to give them dignity as they were not given dignity where they were buried”.

“There are issues that we are not happy with as the PAC in the Eastern Cape.

“In all the funerals of the 17 Poqo members, no one came to represent government. Even ward councillors did not attend the funerals,” he said.

He said the reburial was not a programme of the PAC but of government.

“After the decision by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to exhume these heroes and give their remains back to their families, that process took more than 24 years to be done,” he said.

Goqwana said the families of the deceased were also promised remuneration but that never happened.

“They were promised tombstones and that the families and the communities that were affected are going to be looked after but all those things never happened.

“It was only Chris Hani District Municipality which did tombstones for these heroes,” Goqwana said.

He said there was a resolution to name places and streets after those who had died, but it never happened.

“When these heroes are laid to rest, government should have been here to recognise the role they played in the liberation of our people. Government just gave the whole process to the families and the PAC,” he said.

Chief Zwelidumile Ndarala, speaking on behalf of the Sogwagwa family, said he was happy that Jonathan’s remains had finally come back home.

“I say to all families who still have family members that have not yet been returned home to be patient with the government,” he said.