Remains of 12 UDF fighters received by MEC

THE remains of the 12 United Democratic Front (UDF) members were warmly received by the Eastern Cape Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture MEC Cape Pemmy Majodina in Port Elizabeth yesterday.

The fighters were executed in Pretoria in the last days of apartheid as they dedicated their lives to the liberation of the oppressed.

Commemorated alongside them was ANC stalwart Vuyisile Mini, who was also hanged in Pretoria in the 1960s.

Department spokesperson Andile Nduna said: “The repatriation of the 12 UDF political activists is thus another another attempt to promote reconciliation, unity, justice, nation building and social cohesion.”

Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Michael Masutha last week presided over the official handover of the remains of the activists in Pretoria.

All 12 political activists were hanged at the Kgosi Mampuru gallows in Pretoria for various incidents that took place in the Eastern Cape in 1985 and 1986. A total of 130 political prisoners were hanged at the gallows between 1960 and 1990 for various political crimes.

The remains of Mangena Jeffrey Boesman, Welile Raymond Gwebushe, Ndumiso Silo Siphenuka, Makhwezana Menze, Tsepo Letsora, Mlondolozi Benjamin Gxothiwe, Lungile Rewu, Sipho Mahala, Siphiwe Lande, Thobile Richard Lloyd, Kholisile Dyakala and Zwelidumile Mjekula were handed over to their families for reburial.

Majodina has led her department successfully in the process of exhuming and returning the remains of the political activists who died in South Africa and abroad. She recently led the process of spiritually repatriating a Khoisan leader, David Stuurman, who was buried in Australia.

A memorial lecture on the life and times of Vuyisile Mini was the last phase of the day at Nangoza Jebe Hall in New Brighton, Port Elizabeth.