Comrades honour Struggle hero

Anton Fransch died at hands of apartheid cops 26 years ago

WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 18

A2015 FTER leaving his country as a young man and returning as a soldier, Anton Fransch dedicated his life to fighting apartheid. He ultimately died at the hands of apartheid police in 1989. He was 20 years old. Yesterday, the ANC’s Youth League in the province commemorated Fransch in Athlone, in front of the house where he was killed after a seven-hour gun battle with up to 40 heavily armed officers on November 17, 1989.

The mother of Fransch’s son, Nicky AsherPedro, said she still misses him.

Fransch’s son, Nathan, was two when his father was killed.

“Things could have been different if he was around, but I was lucky and had angels in my path and I was able to raise my son who is now following in his father’s footsteps in a different way,” said Asher-Pedro.

She said her son, now 28, was a pastor and was helping youth who abuse drugs and alcohol, with their rehabilitation.

“We can come here every year and do this, but it means nothing if we don’t pick up the spear and continue.”

Fransch, originally from Bonteheuwel, was killed when police tossed a grenade into the room in which he was holed up after the all-night stand-off.

Basil Snayer, who lives next door to the house in which Fransch was killed, relived the fateful day as Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) veterans and neighbours stood outside and shared stories of Fransch.

He said that on the night of the incident, his family had celebrated his daughter’s 11th birthday. Last night they were celebrating her 37th when he was asked to share his memories. “I am happy you disturbed me. We can’t not be disturbed. It was a moment in history that should not be kept quiet. I hope you come back to do this next year and the year after, until things are right in this country.”

Snayer testified at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in 1995 about the night of the killing. He told the TRC the police had definitely come to kill Fransch and had no intention of making an arrest.

“Kom uit, jou vark. Vandag is jy dood. (Come out, you pig. Today, you die.),” he reported the police as screaming.

Fatty Booi, the national organiser for the MK Veterans’ Association, said Fransch’s name should be “all over”.

“It was not an easy battle. The material he used showed he was well trained and if there was no grenade used he could have fought longer. He could have also easily escaped, but he was stubborn in a way and didn’t see himself as a coward and he fought and never surrendered.”

Booi said he had been in military training with Fransch in Angola and knew him to be a strategist and the best sniper in the military wing of the ANC. He said it was frustrating that Fransch and other MK fighters were not commemorated.

“Politically he has not been recognised, not even by our own government, his name should be all over…