JOHANNESBURG: South Africa’s authorities handed the exhumed keeps of a political activist to his home on Saturday. Their implementation by the apartheid government 40 years ago sparked a national outcry on the international stage.
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced last year an investigation into difficulties in prosecutions, which comes as political atrocities were being investigated at the time of the meeting for Benjamin Moloise.
Moloise was 30 years old when he was hanged in 1985 for the murder of a safety officer, which he denied. His murder sparked unrest in South Africa and protests in various global cities.
Pope John Paul II criticized the murder as adding “anguish to a frequent situation of imperative injustice,” as per a resolution that the UN passed that called for the death phrase to be commuted.
Abraham Mngomezulu, a second ANC activist who was executed by the racism regime, was given to his home at the same service in Johannesburg’s Soweto.
According to the authorities, Mngomezulu was hanged in 1989 at the age of 23 after participating in protests against foreclosures that resulted in the death of a man.
Without the presence of their communities, both men were interred in unknown graves. According to the government, their exhumation “marks an important milestone in South Africa’s continued journey toward healing, justice, and reconciliation.”
Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi stated in a statement at the meeting that 74 other people who had been executed by the preceding regime’s execution had already been given to their families for reburial.
She said that the government was “determined to make sure that the soldiers of our people receive the recognition they deserve for their contributions to the independence of dark folks.”
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission ( TRC ), which was established in 1996 to expose crimes like murder and torture during apartheid, held 2,500 hearings over the course of two years with the possibility of offering amnesty.
Several trials have been held as a result, and Ramaphosa announced on Wednesday a criminal investigation into alleged deliberate prosecution delays.
In addition to the death of ANC leader and Nobel Peace Prize champion Albert Luthuli, which passed away in 1967, investigations into the deaths of other social activists have since been reopened this time. Luthuli was killed when he was struck by a station, according to an investigation that time.
