Justice minister Ronald Lamola will on Friday hand over the exhumed remains of the so-called Cato Manor 9 to their families at a ceremony in the suburb on Friday.
Thembinkosi Schoolboy Mthembu, Fanozi Brian Mgubungu, Msayineke Daniel Khuzwayo, Sililo Joseph Miya, Payiyana Dladla, Mahemu Goqo, Maqandeni Lushozi, Thompson Chamane, and Mhlawungeni Joe Khuzwayo were hanged by the apartheid regime in 1961after being convicted of killing nine police officers in Cato Manor in 1960.
“The exhumation of the remains of all prisoners who were hanged on death row between 1960 and 1990 is in accordance with the Gallows Exhumation Project, which was officially launched on March 23, 2016, at the Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre,” Lamola’s office said on Wednesday.
“The then apartheid state retained custody of the remains of the deceased, thereby denying their families an opportunity to bury them. The state buried the deceased political prisoners as paupers in cemeteries in and around Tshwane.”
The handover of the remains was an effort to bring closure to the families of the deceased and to honour their legacy.
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