Pretoria – Families of slain activists finally have some closure on the manner in which their loved ones were executed during apartheid.
The families of stalwarts Vuyisile Mini, Wilson Khayingo and Zinakile Mkaba today attended the 50th Anniversary of the freedom fighters at the Kgosi Mampuru Correctional facility.
The three stalwarts were arrested on 10 May 1963 and in March 1964, they were sentenced to death.
Mini, Khayingo and Mkaba were executed at the Pretoria Central Prison (now Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Service) on 6 November 1964.
Mlungwana Mini, son of the slain Vuyisile Mini, told SAnews that the family will now have closure on the manner in which his father was executed.
“As a family, we are happy that my father and other freedom fighters are being remembered,” he said.
Mini was eight years old when his father was executed at the then Pretoria C Max Prison.
“My father and others did not die in vain. Today we are enjoying the fruits of democracy because of them,” Mini said.
Mini said although he missed growing up with his father, he finds comfort in the fact that his father died fighting to liberate the country from the oppressors.
According to Mini, his mother told him that his father was a fearless man who was determined to liberate the people of South Africa from the apartheid government.
In total, more than 3 500 people were executed during the apartheid regime.
Mzingisi Mkaba, grandchild of the slain activist Zinakile Mkaba, said he has forgiven those who executed Mkaba.
Mkaba was two years old when his grandfather was executed.
“His death is not in vain, he is counted among the heroes who fought for our democracy,” he said.
Some family members, who were visiting the Kgosi Mampuru Facility for the first time, were taken through the processes followed when their beloved ones were executed.
At the time of executions, family members were not allowed to view the bodies and sometimes they were not even told where they had been buried.
Correctional Services officials explained the processes which includes the 52 steps taken by those who were executed.
The area in which the executions were carried out has since been declared a museum.
President Jacob Zuma officially opened the gallows as a museum in 2011.
The museum, which is currently under construction, is separate from the prison, with its own entrance and exit.
According to the Department of Correctional Services, the museum aimed to bring peace to South Africans and to the families of those executed.
The Departments of Defence and Military Veterans, Justice and Correctional Services and the Nelson Mandela Municipality hosted the anniversary. – SAnews.gov.za
