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ANC’S BID TO HONOUR, EXHUME MEMBERS KILLED IN ESWATINI

05/06/2023 05:54:00 Sibusiso Zwane

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MANZINI - South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC) is in a move to honour its freedom fighters who were killed in Eswatini during the apartheid era.

According to sources close to the matter, during the apartheid era in South Africa, some of the ANC’s freedom fighters, included those who were members of the umkhonto wesizwe, fled the neighbouring country and hid in the Kingdom of Eswatini. They said others were killed and allegedly buried in the country. Now, they said the ANC want to build monuments at the locations where their freedom fighters were killed and supposedly exhume their remains and take them to South Africa, where they would be given dignified funerals.

Umkhonto wesizwe, was a paramilitary wing of the ANC and it was founded in June 1961, in the wake of the Sharpeville massacre. Its mission was to fight against the South African government of that time and it carried a number of attacks on the administration of the neighbouring country. They purported that during the apartheid war, a number of the ANC freedom fighters went to self-exile in foreign countries and some of them hid in the Kingdom of Eswatini. They alleged that they were housed in various residences in Mbabane, Matsapha, Luyengo and Ngwane Park, to mention, a few.

They alleged that the rentals for the residences, some of which were government houses, were paid for by the ANC. Regarding the government houses, the sources alleged that they rented from civil servants who occupied. They alleged that the civil servants purportedly received fortunes for the houses. Later on, in particular after the demise of King Sobhuza III in 1982 and before the installation of King Mswati III, the government of South Africa of that time allegedly made arrangements to supposedly bring to book the ANC freedom fighters who had fled their country after purportedly carrying out some attacks on their government. They said most of the incidents took place in March 1984 and some of them were widely reported by some of the local dailies.

Shootout

However, they alleged that there was a purported shootout between members of the State security organs, in particular the Paramilitary Unit (PMU), which is now known as the Operational Support Services Unit (OSSU) and the ANC freedom fighters. The shootout resulted in the death of a number of the ANC freedom fighters. The sources also notified this publication that about a fortnight ago, a team from the ANC visited the country and engaged government regarding the matter. They said in their engagement, the visitors purportedly sought government’s assistance, in particular the police service, in locating the structures where their freedom fighters died.

According to the sources, the team from ANC told the administration that they wanted to build something like monuments at the houses where some of their freedom fighters died, mainly in March 1983. They highlighted that the PMU, which was allegedly involved in the operations, was the same unit that introduced the camouflage uniform in the police service. The sources revealed that during their visit in the country, the team from the South African political party worked with some senior law enforcers. They claimed that they visited some of the houses where the said ANC freedom fighters were allegedly shot dead, including Mobeni flats in Matsapha and they took pictures.

“They also went to the Eswatini National Archives, where they searched for articles which were published by the local dailies about the ANC freedom fighters who were purportedly killed in the country. Again, they also took pictures and photocopied the news articles,” the source said.
Reverend Hanson Ngwenya, who is a former reporter of this publication, confirmed that he was one of the reporters who wrote articles about the so-called onslaught, which took place in 1984. He also confirmed that in the past two weeks, he received a call from some senior police officers who asked to meet him. He said when he asked what the meeting was about, he was told him that they wanted to talk to about some of the articles he wrote about the ANC members, who were purportedly killed in the country.

However, he said they finally met on Wednesday May 31, 2023. He asked not to divulge what was discussed as per the agreement with the senior law enforcers. According to a source close to the matter, the police asked to meet Reverend Ngwenya because one of the stories he wrote, was about some ANC freedom fighters who were killed during an alleged shootout with the PMU at Dalrich in Mbabane in March 1984. The source added that the main reason the police wanted to meet with Ngwenya was they wanted him to show them the house where the incident took place. Again, the source said the reverend led the police to the house in question at Dalrich. He highlighted that the house, which is believed to be a three-bedroom structure, was allegedly a government house and it was found unoccupied.

“It is believed that the police wanted to know the house because they need to identify it for the ANC people,” the source said. Meanwhile, Chief Police Information and Communication Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati referred this publication to the ANC. “Talk to ANC,” she said. She clarified that her office dealt with policing issues that were officially written down. On the other hand, efforts of getting a comment from the ANC proved to futile as by the time of compiling this report, they had not responded to questions which were sent to its press office on Friday. It is worth noting that around 2010, this publication published an article which was to the effect that the Freedom Park in South Africa sent a team of traditional healers to the country and they were tasked with collecting the spirits of the freedom fighters who were purportedly killed in Eswatini and take them to the neighbouring country purportedly to rest in peace.