News / National
ZIPRA, MK veterans must join hands to rebury their fallen comrades
10 Oct 2011 at 12:16hrs | Views
Speaking at a moving ceremony of the reburial of four Umkhonto Wesizwe fallen heroes, ZAPU elder Richard "Gedi" Dube called on MK and ZIPRA veterans associations to embark on joint programmes to find graves of fallen heroes of both former liberation armies in the Southern Africa region and hand their remains to the families for reburial with dignity. "There are many MK and ZIPRA soldiers lying in unmarked graves in Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, Angola, Zimbabwe and South Africa", said comrade Dube, a senior ZIPRA veteran himself.
Comrade Dube told the mourners that due to the ANC/ZAPU alliance and the MK/ZIPRA joint command of 1967, the ANC and ZAPU became one and MK and ZIPRA became one united force whose objective was total liberation of both countries from oppressive regimes. He urged leaders of both sides to ensure that those alliances are preserved for posterity. He briefed the attentive audience about the Wankie and Sipolo battles by MK and ZIPRA. The battles marked the beginning of an armed struggle that would ultimately lead to the liberation of the two nations.
He further praised the the gallant heroes who sacrificed their "today" then in order to give us a better "tomorrow" today. The four ANC comrades whose reburial service was held at Regina Mundi church in Soweto on October 8th, were killed in separate incidents inside South Africa in battles against the South African defense forces of the day. A fifth cadre had a separate reburial service in Pretoria and was reburied at a cemetery close to his family.
Among the four fallen heroes at the Soweto serviece, was comrade Vusumuzi Nyembe, who had fought side by side with ZIPRA in Zimbabwe since 1977 until Zimbabwe's independence in 1980. He then joined the MK Special Operations Unit that carried out various acts of sabotage within South Africa until his death in May 1984. Nyembe, whose MK name was Ralph Stilwana, and three other Special Operations Unit members launched a rocket attack on the then Mobil Refinery in the South Durban Basin. They were pursued by police and killed after a five-hour gun battle. Nyembe's remains together with those of Oupa Matthews Funani, Charles Tsatsi and Vuyisile Tshabalala were handed to their respective families last Saturday. Armed with DNA matching forensic technology, the South Africa National Prosecuting Authorities' missing persons unit was able to positively identify the fallen solder's remains.
Present at the ceremony were families of the deceased, Ukhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association members in full MK uniforms, ZIPRA Veterans Association members based in South Africa, ANC leaders and members and ZAPU Diaspora Regional Office staff.
Comrade Dube told the mourners that due to the ANC/ZAPU alliance and the MK/ZIPRA joint command of 1967, the ANC and ZAPU became one and MK and ZIPRA became one united force whose objective was total liberation of both countries from oppressive regimes. He urged leaders of both sides to ensure that those alliances are preserved for posterity. He briefed the attentive audience about the Wankie and Sipolo battles by MK and ZIPRA. The battles marked the beginning of an armed struggle that would ultimately lead to the liberation of the two nations.
Among the four fallen heroes at the Soweto serviece, was comrade Vusumuzi Nyembe, who had fought side by side with ZIPRA in Zimbabwe since 1977 until Zimbabwe's independence in 1980. He then joined the MK Special Operations Unit that carried out various acts of sabotage within South Africa until his death in May 1984. Nyembe, whose MK name was Ralph Stilwana, and three other Special Operations Unit members launched a rocket attack on the then Mobil Refinery in the South Durban Basin. They were pursued by police and killed after a five-hour gun battle. Nyembe's remains together with those of Oupa Matthews Funani, Charles Tsatsi and Vuyisile Tshabalala were handed to their respective families last Saturday. Armed with DNA matching forensic technology, the South Africa National Prosecuting Authorities' missing persons unit was able to positively identify the fallen solder's remains.
Present at the ceremony were families of the deceased, Ukhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association members in full MK uniforms, ZIPRA Veterans Association members based in South Africa, ANC leaders and members and ZAPU Diaspora Regional Office staff.
Source - Zapu
