WeeklySA_AdminFORGET NOT OUR FREEDOM FIGHTERS
The recognition and the handing out of National Orders to a number of political activists who faced the wrath of the oppressive regime in pursuit of a democratic dispensation in South Africa, brought sad memories especially about those who disappeared without trace after being tortured by the apartheid security police. While South Africans celebrate thirty years of freedom under the ANC-led government, we should also spare a thought for those men, women and children who were subjected to acts of brutality at the hands of police simply because they dared speak out against the unjust laws of the apartheid regime. Hundreds of men and women fled the country to join the military wing of the ANC, Umkhonto we Sizwe to wage a guerilla war against the Nationalist Party-led government. Many of them paid the ultimate prize of being killed by enemy agents. Others were arrested and disappeared without trace – until today.
Amongst those who posthumously received the awards was ANC activist, Nokuthula Orela Simelane, who was conferred with the Order of Luthuli in Gold by President Cyril Ramaphosa this week. Born in Mzinoni township near Bethal in Mpumalanga in 1960, she was arrested in Johannesburg in 1983, taken to the notorious Vlakplaas , a farm near Laudium, Pretoria which was an undercover counterinsurgency division of the apartheid security police in the 1980s. She was tortured and murdered. Her remains have never been found and those responsible for her death are only known to the apartheid bosses. Another activist, who posthumously received the Order of Mendi, is Ignatius Mthebule, a member of the Azanian Students Organization who left the country in 1981 to join the ANC in exile. This was after he and others were expelled from the University of the North for participating in the Mozambique Independence Celebrations. He was apparently arrested when he came back into the country. He also disappeared without trace.
With the country facing a myriad of challenges that included unemployment and corruption, it is however important to remember those who faced the wrath of the oppressive regime and laid their lives on the line to help in the ushering of a democratic government in this country.
After being in power for the last thirty years, the ANC-led government has outlined some of their achievements and stating that the country was better than thirty years ago under the apartheid government. It is indeed a mammoth task to repair – in 30 years – the damage caused by apartheid policies that were in force for nearly three hundred years.
With the national elections due to be held later this month, we urge the political party that eventually comes into power to elect competent officials in government who will be able to deliver essential services to the people.
This would be one of the only ways to reward those who suffered, perished and disappeared without trace at the hands of the apartheid security police.
Their efforts to liberate this country should not be in vain.
