Pretoria - A wreath was laid and a commitment never to forget the 14 victims of the Mamelodi massacre was made at the sanctuary at Freedom Park on Thursday afternoon.
A photo exhibition was also launched to mark the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the shooting. Residents of Mamelodi accompanied the families of those who died.
“We are eternally grateful for the physical monument to which we can return at any time,” said Victor Songo, whose older brother Jacob died in the hail of bullets which rained down on the unarmed marchers on November 21, 1985.
The then 8-year-old had looked up to the brother who was 10 years older than him.
“He was everything I wanted to be and because he took me with him to his sporting activities every day, he became my role model,” Songo said.
Linah Ndlovu lost 2-month-old Trocia on that day. The baby had been sleeping under an open window as her mother went to the march. In the chaos of the attack by the armed forces, residents ran helter skelter and into her yard.
Teargas was thrown at them as they ran.
Trocia was sleeping in a room where the window was open and was hit by fumes.
Trocia would have been a 30-year-old lady now and would be a valuable member of Ndlovu’s family.
“I have other kids and we all feel the gap she’d have filled if she were here,” she added.
Bertha Matlala’s voice broke as she spoke of the home her parents had worked so hard to build, which had become a huge, empty shell because no one lived in it.
“Moses was the one who would have lived there; he would have maintained the home we grew up in and which we later improved so that it remained our home,” she said.
Freedom Park chief executive officer Jane Mufamadi pledged her organisation’s support in keeping the history of Mamelodi alive.
“The youth must never forget the struggle that was experienced. They must remember all this happened in the recent past and Is not ancient history,” she said.
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