The ANC Youth League (ANCYL) is to exhume the remains of its first president, Anton Lembede, presently buried in Newclare cemetery in Johannesburg, on Monday.
His remains will be re-interred at Mbumbulu in KwaZulu-Natal next Sunday in a ceremony to be attended by President Thabo Mbeki, Ancyl founder member Nelson Mandela, and current president Molusi Gigaba.
Ancyl representative Khulekani Ntshangase said Lembede was not afforded a decent funeral at the time of his death and was buried away from his home. Monday’s ceremony would start a process to correct that, he said.
Lembede died mysteriously after a short illness on July 30, 1947, the Ancyl said in a statement. ”Doctors at that time refused to disclose the cause of death except saying that it was related to ‘intestinal malfunctioning’,” the organisation said.
Ancyl president Molusi Gigaba, top ANC officials and surviving first generation Ancyl members would attend the ceremony that was scheduled to start at 10.30am.
Among Lembede’s peers were Oliver Tambo, Nelson Mandela, Mxolisi Majombozi and Walter Sisulu.
”Lembede,” the Ancyl said, ”was recognised as an outstanding intellectual who lived his life ahead of his times.”
He was born into a peasant family on a farm near Georgedale in the Eastern Cape on March 21, 1914. Lembede later made his home in Durban. – Sapa