Majodina leads trip to repatriate PAC activist’s remains

The Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture (DSRAC) MEC Pemmy Majodina has led a delegation to Birmingham, England to oversee the exhumation and repatriation of the remains of the late Pan African Congress (PAC) activist Nkululeko Jako.

Jako, a soldier of the liberation movement, Azanian People’s Liberation Army’s (Apla), died in 1983. Apla members underwent military training around the continent and be- yond. The Department working closely with the Eastern Cape Provincial Repatriations and Reburial Committee has a rolling programme of assisting families of victims of conflict to recover the remains of their relatives from areas where they died and were buried at the height of the liberation struggle so they can be reburied with dignity.

Remains are exhumed and repatriated within the country and beyond the borders of South Africa.

The programme is informed by the Eastern Cape Provincial Policy on Exhumation, Repatriation and Reburial of Remains of Victims of Conflict (2013), in turn informed by the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that advocated symbolic reparation to ensure families of victims begin healing and finally find closure.

The delegation is scheduled to return with the remains on 16 April 2017 to prepare for reburial on 22 April.