Lamentations as sacrifices of fallen heroes remembered
Cape Town-151216-ANC members, family and friends of deseaced MK members buried at Maitland visited graves to comemorate Rememberance Day. In pic, 10 year old Chloe" Begg places flowers on Ashley Kriel and Melvin Kriel's grave. Begg's mother was a friend of the deceased-Reporter-Zodidi-Photographer-Tracey Adams Cape Town-151216-ANC members, family and friends of deseaced MK members buried at Maitland visited graves to comemorate Rememberance Day. In pic, 10 year old Chloe" Begg places flowers on Ashley Kriel and Melvin Kriel's grave. Begg's mother was a friend of the deceased-Reporter-Zodidi-Photographer-Tracey Adams
Michael Nkalane
FRIENDS and families of fallen Umkhonto we Sizwe soldiers and ANC activists gathered on Wednesday at Maitland Cemetery to clean their graves and share stories of their sacrifices.
Umkhonto we Sizwe soldiers Ashley Kriel, Anton Fransch, Coline Williams and Robert Waterwitch, and Zolile and Lettie Malindi were remembered for their contribution towards freedom in South Africa.
Kriel was 20 years old when he was killed in Athlone in 1987, a few months after he returned from military training in Angola. Black Sash and ANC stalwart Lettie Malindi died after suffering a stroke at the age of 89 in 2010. Her husband Zolile, a trade unionist stalwart, died in 2008. Waterwitch and Williams were killed in a blast in Athlone on July 23, 1989, the same year Fransch was shot dead.
Bonteheuwel activist Abdoesalaam Isaacs said tribal and ethnic politics was tearing the South African society apart. “And that is against what these heroes fought for.”
Kriel’s comrade at the then-Cape Youth Congress, Richard Martin, said: “We fought to free our people from poverty. We did not fight for economic benefits of the individuals within the movement.”
He lamented infighting in the ANC. “We are our worst enemies. It is clear the ANC is divided. We have to decide our loyalty to the movement.”
Hendrietta Abrahams, who went to school with Kriel at Bonteheuwel High School, said a question to be asked was, “Do we have the freedom they fought for? No, we don’t”. Their sacrifices were in vain.”
Abrahams said they fought for eradication of poverty and for justice and equality – fundamental principles of the Freedom Charter.
“Instead of achieving those principles, our corrupt leaders are becoming more and more opportunistic. They keep on enriching themselves at the expense of the electorate. We want honest leaders with integrity and humility.
“Then they will not renege from the principles of the Freedom Charter. Imagine what Coline, a woman who sacrificed her life, would be saying with the ever growing inequalities.”
An old acquaintance of Zolile, Andhor Marks, said he met him in 1986 when they were detained. “He played a big role in organising the youth.
“He united the blacks and coloureds. Coloureds were finally allowed to enter in black townships because of him. He showed us the need to unite under one enemy, which was apartheid.”
michael.nkalane@inl.co.za
@siyaks