Exhumation of remains

PAULPIETERSBURG May 7 1998 - SAPA

TRC EXHUMES BODIES OF MK FIGHTERS

The bodies of four Umkhonto we Sizwe operatives who were paraded naked through the streets of Paulpietersburg before being executed in the early 1980s were exhumed near Paulpietersburg in KwaZulu-Natal by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Thursday.
The exhumed bodies will be reburied in the cadres' home towns in special ceremonies over the weekend, African Eye News Service reported.
The commission's special investigations unit was, however, unable to exhume the body of a fifth MK cadre, Henry Nkosi, because none of his relatives could be traced.
Nkosi and a fellow MK operative, Bheki Mchunu, were killed by security branch policemen on December 8, 1982, after a taxi driver transporting them on a mission turned out to be a police informer.
"Large numbers of MK cadres were murdered after being sold to the police by taxi drivers. The taxi drivers, in fact, got so good at it that they became regular police informers," said TRC investigative unit spokesman Fanie Molapo.
The policeman and his son who allegedly killed the two freedom fighters have not applied for amnesty, despite being publicly connected to the murders, Molapo said.
Vusi Mbongwe, James Masango and Bafana Mahlombe were sent to search for Nkosi and Mchunu by MK commanders in Swaziland but were also reported to police by taxi drivers in June 1983.
They were arrested, stripped naked and marched through the local township to the police station where they were later repeatedly shot at close range with automatic rifles and pistols before being buried naked in unmarked graves.
© South African Press Association, 1998This text is for information only and may not be published or reprinted without the permission of the South African Press Association