Anti-apartheid Freedom Fighters Exhumed

[XXPANTHAXX]

Two bodies, presumed to be of South African anti-apartheid
fighters missing since 1988, have been exhumed.

Investigators hope to unravel the mystery of hundreds of
people who disappeared during the apartheid era.

Relatives broke down in tears as the two skeletons were dug
out of the dark red earth in KwaZulu-Natal.

"It has hurt so much for so long, but I am relieved I can now
take his bones home with me and bury them," said an emotional
Joyce Sekoko.

It is thought her son Oscar "Shakes" Maleka and his comrade,
Jabulani Ndaba, members of the African National Congress
military wing, were killed in a shoot-out with police.

'Dignity'

The two bodies were exhumed in unmarked graves in
Pietermaritzburg, some 50km from Durban.

The project arose out of South Africa's Truth and
Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which, during its amnesty
hearings from 1996 to 2003, unearthed information on the
assassination of anti-apartheid activists.

Its report named 477 apartheid victims whose bodies had not
been found.

In 2003 President Thabo Mbeki ordered prosecutors to finalise
the investigations.

National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Makhosini Nkosi said
forensic tests would be carried out to establish who they
were and how they died but emphasised that the priority was
identifying the bodies of missing persons.

"I doubt if there will be many prosecutions," he said.

"This is the beginning of the process that will be able to
restore the dignity... of those fighters for liberation who
perished in the course of the struggle," said National
Prosecuting Authority Director Vusi Pikoli.

More than 20 bodies were expected to be exhumed in the coming
weeks by units set up specifically to investigate the
apartheid victims.

Prosecutors hope to solve some 150 cases.

Healing

The BBC's Alastair Leithead in South Africa says that those
close to the TRC believe this is a vitally important part of
the healing process.

Forensic tests will be done to establish cause of death and
other evidence may also be gathered but it is not thought any
prosecutions will follow.

He says the intention is very much to present the families of
those killed with their loved one's bodies so they can
finally move on from being classed as missing and they can
find the truth behind what happened to them.

It is also a very important part of African culture and it is
thought the reburials of those killed will also help bring a
terrible chapter in South Africa's history to an end for many
victims' families, he adds.