Pretoria – Mveli Vulindlela was just two years old when he lost his father and four other family members when they were executed by the apartheid regime in July 1964.
Now, 52 years later, he will get to bury the remains of a father he never got to know, whose remains were exhumed on Wednesday.
“I can say that we are happy as the Vulindlela family. We have travelled a long road to find our family members. We consulted with different government departments.
“At the end of the day the government pulled through and we applaud them for the work they have done,” Mveli said.
He is the son of Bhonase Vulindlela, who was 46 when he was executed at the gallows of Pretoria Central Prison, as it was then known. Also executed that day were Sihelegu Vulindlela, 28, Sandunge Vulindlela, 30, Malize Vulindlela, 30, and Mbhekaphantsi Vulindlela. Mbhekapantsi was the youngest of the five at age 18 at the time of his execution. “Luckily, my mother is still alive and she was always telling us about him and how he was killed.”
He said it was painful growing up without a father, and he was the one who started the project of finding out how he could find his father’s remains.
At first, he said, he was told the gate was closed and there was no way of finding their remains. However, after negotiating with the government, they started the process which led to the exhumation.
He said his mother, Noluzile Vulindlela, who was not at the exhumation, told him on the phone of the pride she felt that the process was done. “She told me she was not crying but proud. She cried at the time they were hanged because on that day she was at the gallows; so this is a proud moment.”
Minister of Justice Michael Masutha and Deputy Minister Thabang Makwetla were on hand to officiate at the Rebecca Street Cemetery exhumation ceremony of the12 political prisoners who were hanged.
Family members at the exhumation of the remains of their loved ones. Picture: Thobile Mathonsi
The other prisoners exhumed were Bennet Mpetu, Right Mangqikana, Bawokazi Mangqikana, Nqaba Memani, Siwana Mlahleki, Mili Poli and Mtalatala Xhego.
Dumisa Galeni was also hanged, but was buried in Mamelodi. His remains will also be exhumed.
Tuse Nzaya and Nokhele Nyakala were sentenced to death, but their sentences were commuted to life imprisonment. They died of natural causes while serving those sentences and buried as paupers.
Thembeni Swelindawo was sentenced to death, but was severely tortured and died while on death row. He was also buried as a pauper in Mamelodi, and his remains will also be exhumed. In total, 13 people were hanged for the events surrounding the Mbashe River incident, which took place on February 5, 1963.
Masutha explained that a group of 60 members of the armed wing of the PAC from the village of Mputhi in the Eastern Cape launched an attack on a road construction camp beside the Mbashe River on the road between Mthatha and Engcobo. The five occupants of two caravans at the camp were attacked and killed.
Following the attack large numbers of local residents were arrested and charged, and 13 were arrested, 12 of them later being hanged. All 12 men were buried three in a grave on top of each other.
“While the gallows only accommodated seven individuals at a time, they were hanged in two groups on the same day. The first group was hanged at 6am and the second group at 6.45am,” Masutha explained.
The meticulous work of #Exhumation of the remains of the 12 cadres continues @AfriNewsAgency pic.twitter.com/S4fHczJCzG
— Jonisayi W. Maromo (@Jonisayi) December 14, 2016
In March, the minister launched the Gallows Exhumation Project at the Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre. “This project was sanctioned by the TRC as one of the recommendations that we are painstakingly fulfilling,” Masutha said.
Madeleine Fullard, head of the Missing Persons Task Team for the NPA, said the exhumation process began five years ago. However, the exhumation was just part of a longer process before the families will be able to rebury them.
“The remains here are not in very good condition; they were buried decades ago. It took a long time to get down to the level of the remains and expose them. We photograph them and will then remove them for forensic examination to check if the remains are consistent with the biological profile of the individual to verify their identities.
“Once that is done, probably by the end of January, they’ll be ready for the family to take them."
Fullard said there were 89 political prisoners they needed to exhume, which she expected would be done in about a year.