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Monica and Hombisa Maseti stood side by side, their eyes fixed on the remains of their father Nkosencinci Maseti in an open grave at the Rebecca Street Cemetery in Pretoria.
Maseti’s exhumation forms part of the nine members of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) armed wing, Poqo, who have been exhumed between Tuesday and Wednesday.
Speaking in trembling voices, the sisters expressed disappointment at how their father met his demise.
They were however pleased they were that their father was finally going to receive a dignified burial.
Maseti was the only one of the nine Poqo members to be exhumed at the Rebecca Street Cemetery as the other eight were exhumed on Tuesday from unmarked graves in Mamelodi West Cemetery in Pretoria.
All nine PAC members were hanged in the apartheid period between 1963 and 1967 and buried in unmarked graves after being charged for various political crimes.
Maseti was hanged on September 26 1967 for the killing of a suspected informer, Klaas Hoza.
Maqadaza Magushe (32), Goduka Gelem (38) and Mcdonald Mgweba (30) – who were exhumed on Tuesday – were hanged on May 30 1967 as part of nine people accused of killing a white shopkeeper.
Jonathan Sogwagwa (30) was hanged on September 27 1963, while Titus Tembekile Nyovu (29) and Vanele Matikinca (35) were both hanged on October 14 1963.
Joseph Bhazalele Mqhitsana and Aaron Kinki Njokwana (23) were hanged in Pretoria on December 11 1963 for the killing of three young women who had transgressed Poqo rules.
These exhumations form part of the Gallows Exhumation Project launched by Justice Minister Michael Masutha in 2016, aimed at recovering the remains of political prisoners who were hanged prior to the suspension of the death penalty in 1990.
The TRC Unit in the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, together with the Missing Persons Task Team (MPTT) in the National Prosecuting Authority, have been tasked with giving closure to families.
“Families know that their family members were hanged but since their bodies up until now have been state property, they have not been able to give them dignified burials,” said Madeleine Fullard, head of the MPTT.
“The majority of the prisoners hanged during the period 1960 to 1990 were from the PAC.”
PAC president Narius Moloto said it is was important for the younger generations to know their history.
“It is sad that a crucial component in the struggle of freedom such as the PAC is so often written out of the history books,” he said.
“There are PAC political prisoners who are still imprisoned since apartheid days in our democratic South Africa, which demonstrates how far we still need to go as a country,” Moloto added.
Earlier on Wednesday, PAC members and family members of those who were exhumed were taken to the Kgosi Mampuru Correctional Service on a tour of the gallows where their comrades were hanged.
Those in attendance were unable to contain their tears, particulary during demonstrations of how prisoners were hanged.
RT @JKwritingz: One of the family members breaks down in the execution room as they demonstrate how the hanging used to be done #PAC pic.twitter.com/tGRypZmE0u
— City Press Online (@City_Press) March 7, 2018
The exhumed bodies will undergo DNA tests to establish their identity and will then be handed over to their loved ones to be given proper burials.
Fullard said this was an ongoing process and they hoped to continue identifying missing persons and granting family members the ability to give their loved ones proper burials.
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