Cape Town - Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) veterans have called for the house that Struggle stalwart Ashley Kriel was murdered in to be declared a heritage site.
Dullah Omar region MK veterans chairperson Fumanekile Booi said the idea came from the Kriel family, but was something the MK veterans had always wanted to do.
Kriel, a young activist, was killed by apartheid police at the age 20 at a house in Hazendal in Athlone on July 9, 1987.
“The MK veterans are planning to have a 30th anniversary celebration for Ashley Kriel, and with that we think it will be fitting to have something achieved within that same year,” Booi said.
He said Athlone was a central point in the armed Struggle from the early 1960s.
“A lot of MK members were killed in that area and a lot of recruits were from that area. This is an idea we are trying to put to the heritage committee and housing department,” he said.
At the moment there are people renting the house where Kriel was killed.
Booi said he was not happy with the state the house was in, and while they were in the process of putting through an application and getting a presentation prepared for the National Heritage Council, they were also in the process of initiating talks with those renting the house.
“Ashley is a symbol of an anti-apartheid soldier, not only of MK. The youth can still learn lot a lot about him. He was an active guy, brilliant and fond of education,” said Booi.