The Freedom Park Trust handed over the remains of four former freedom fighters to their families in Pretoria on Friday, 20 years after their deaths.
Harold Sefolo, Andrew Makupe, Jackson Maake and Justice Mbizana, who were suspected of being internal Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) members, were tortured and killed by apartheid-era police in 1987.
The four men’s bodies were placed on explosives, which were then detonated. Their body parts were taken to the Garankuwa mortuary where the undertaker put all the remains in one coffin.
Their bodies were exhumed in July 2005 at the Winterveld cemetery.
For the men’s families, it was a ”relief” to finally get the remains of their loves ones.
Christina Maake, who was a year old when her father Jackson Maake left, broke down in tears when the coffin of the four men was brought into a tent at Freedom Park.
”It was difficult growing up without him, but I got used to it. I’m happy now as I can go to his grave and communicate with him, just like other people,” said the 22 year old.
Mabel Makupe, widow of Andrew Makupe, is still attending counselling to come to terms with the ”horrible” death of her husband.
”Today I can feel his presence and his spirit can finally be laid to rest,” she said.
Most of the relatives wept while the 60 or so mourners sang hymns.
The four men will be buried at the Mamelodi cemetery on April 1. — Sapa