HANGED ACTIVISTS’ BODIES EXHUMED
FAMILIES of six members of Poqo – the armed wing of the PAC – who were hanged in 1963 became emotionally overwhelmed yesterday as their remains were exhumed at the Mamelodi West Cemetery.
The sombre ceremony began with the families retracing their slain kinsmen’s final steps before they were hanged at the gallows in the now Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre.
A grateful retired major-general Daniel Mahato Mofokeng, former chief of the Azanian People’s Liberation Army (Apla), described the six as “martyrs of the PAC”.
“Today we are exhuming six of our martyrs… who were executed. This is a programme that the PAC has approved and the government is executing through the Justice Department.”
He said many other PAC activists who opposed apartheid had died in detention, while some had been killed in combat.
According to the NPA, the activists, known as the “Cofimvaba 6”, were Modi Mbiso, 26, Zenzile May, 27, Goli Sonamzi, 27, Katzekile Pilali, 28, Siqwayi Mhlaba, 27, and Nkosinam Ngalo, also 27.
“All six were members of the PAC’s armed wing, Poqo, who targeted a headman in the Cofimvaba area in the Eastern Cape. They attacked and killed Gwebindala Gqoboza on October 19, 1962. The six were charged with murder and sentenced to death on February 7, 1963. They were hanged at the Pretoria gallows on May 9, 1963.” |