Fallen comrades show us the way
THE repatriation from exile and reburial of the remains of the fallen combatants on home soil is a living testimony against xenophobia.
On April 11, the repatriated mortal remains of uMkhonto we Sizwe combatant Thabang Victor Henley Bookholane were reburied on home soil at the Heroes Acre, Zwide cemetery in Port Elizabeth.
The repatriation of his mortal remains and those of his other comrades and the rest of the combatants who fell outside the borders of the motherland and who were buried in dignity – there is the reason to oppose xenophobia. All those who pay tribute to their selfless struggle and personal sacrifices ought to speak and act against all forms and expressions of xenophobia which may be directed against anybody residing within the borders of South Africa.
The voices of Bookholane and his comrades continue to speak loud and to fight against xenophobia albeit from their graves in the country of their birth.
Bookholane and his comrades loved their country, compatriots and fellow Africans hence their pursuit of selfless struggle and personal sacrifice.
An honour to their legacy is to rise above family feuds. They were assassinated by those who were supposed to be their compatriots (albeit classified racially different) at around 1am on the early morning of January 30 1981 at three houses where they resided at Matola in Mozambique.
Bookholane and the liberation struggle combatants and exiles in general were integrated with their hosts and the people of Mozambique in life and in death. They were not housed in refugee and concentration camps.
The exhumation, repatriation and reburial of his mortal remains took place on the 34th anniversary of their assassination.
Their Mozambican hosts buried them in Lhanguene, a cemetery dedicated to the memory of their own heroes, and did neither segregate nor discriminate against them.
The heroes of the South African liberation struggle were treated equally as the heroes of their host countries.
After their assassination, the Mozambican hosts of the fallen combatants strengthened their encouragement and support for the liberation struggle. After the exhumation, the graves in which they were laid to rest at the time of their passing on continue to be marked by tombstones carrying their names as a memory of the selfless struggle and personal sacrifice.
As the saying goes, unlike us the living, when the departed speak they neither lie nor do they claim easy victories, for they have paid the ultimate price.
May the memory of their selfless struggle and personal sacrifice serve as a bridge between their families, countrymen and fellow Africans.