Pretoria - A North West farmworker, who was buried by the side of the road after his employer refused his family members entry to the farm property, was today - on national Human Rights Day - given a dignified service and reburied at a Potchefstroom graveyard, more than 13 years after his death.
Maruping Simon Serole’s remains were earlier on Thursday exhumed in a ceremony attended by Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti and North West Premier Thandi Modise, among other dignitaries.
A Memorial Wall in his honour was also unveiled.
In 1999, Serole was among the farmworkers at the Liliespan farm in the North West who embarked on a labour strike demanding better employment and social conditions.
During the protest there were confrontations and Serole sustained back injuries and was admitted to a hospital. He later died from his injuries.
His family approached the farm owner to request permission to bury Serole on the farm but this was refused. The family was left with no options but to put him to rest by the side of the road in February 1999.
Twenty evicted households from the farm were relocated to another piece of land in August 2000.
Nkwinti said in a statement that Serole’ case highlighted socio-economic conditions of communities living and working on farms, such as employment and wages, housing, education.
“It further highlights the plight of farmworkers towards underdevelopment, inequality and the need for land reform for both settlement and production and the urgent need for legislation reform and institutional transformation to reverse the legacy of 1913 Natives’ Land Act.”
He said incidents like this should bring South Africans together as a nation and build a true, democratic and free society based on equality, development and justice for all.
National Human Rights Day is linked to the Sharpeville massacre which took place on 21 March 1960. This year, President Jacob Zuma led the day’s commemoration at the Embekweni Indoor Sport Complex in Paarl, Cape Town.
This year’s marks exactly 10 years since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission handed over its final report to then President Thabo Mbeki. – SAnews.gov.za
