Durban - KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Sibongiseni Dhlomo is urging the ANC government to take care of members of its military wing Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK).
Dhlomo is speaking at the official handover of the exhumed remains of MK members Mfaniseni Mdlalose and Mandla Mjwara, who disappeared without a trace in 1987, at the Durban City Hall.
"It should be a reminder to our ANC government that for us to remain in power among some of the important things to do is to continue with such programmes because as painful as it is for these families they will probably say it is good to continue having such a government in power because it takes care of our children," says Dhlomo.
Dhlomo says that such occasions bring both happiness and sadness to families.
"It does bring happiness to say at the end of it all we're going to know what happened to our children and it's comforting to us. But again it brings immediate sadness to say was this the way they were supposed to have departed this world?" Dhlomo says.
Umkhonto we Sizwe members March into the Durban City Hall auditorium where Justice Minister Michael Masutha is to officially handover the exhumed remains of MK members Mandla Mjwara and Mfaniseni Mdlalose who disappeared without trace in 1987. @IOLPolitics @iol pic.twitter.com/Rxm2ySPDuM
— SAMKELO T.L MTSHALI (@Sam_Blaszczy6) August 18, 2018
Coffins with the exhumed remains of Umkhonto we Sizwe members Mfaniseni Mdlalose and Mandla Mjwara are carried into the City Hall auditorium by MK members. Justice Minister Michael Masutha is to officially handover the remains to both men's families. @IOLPolitics @IOL pic.twitter.com/yG80BtwxQb
— SAMKELO T.L MTSHALI (@Sam_Blaszczy6) August 18, 2018
Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Zweli Mkhize chants Umkhonto we Sizwe slogans at the official handover of the exhumed remains of Umkhonto we Sizwe members Mfaniseni Mdlalose and Mandla Mjwara in Durban. @IOLPolitics @IOL pic.twitter.com/hc5aIvpDHl
— SAMKELO T.L MTSHALI (@Sam_Blaszczy6) August 18, 2018
He also says that such occasions also bring anxiety to families whose loved ones have still not been found.
"The more we discover the remains of our loved ones the more there's pressure on the ANC to find many more because this is not the close of a chapter.
"It might be close of a chapter for the Mdlalose and Mjwara families but it opens up wounds to other families whose members have not been discovered," Dhlomo says.
He also paid tribute to the Missing Persons Unit for continuing with making discoveries of bodies of MK soldiers.