Memorial for missing prisoners

More than two years after the search for the remains of 12 political prisoners who died while imprisoned on Robben Island began, a memorial will be erected in their honour at the Stikland Cemetery.

The memorial is expected to be completed later this year. Representatives of the prisoners’ families and former political prisoners who were incarcerated with the men gathered at the cemetery yesterday to pay homage to Jimmy Simon, Mountain Langben, Lameki Kula, Mlungisi Mqalu, Frank Mani, Rueben Laiwa, Solomon Makisi, Matinise Batyi, Sipho Khalipha, Zincwasile Mvalwana, John Poni and Charlie Mkele.

The bodies of the men – all of whom died in the 1960s of natural causes – have never been found as there is no official map of the cemetery. But the cemetery’s records show they are buried there. Madeleine Fullard, head of the NPA’s missing persons task team – who have had archaeologists and forensic experts searching for the men’s remains for the past two years – said they have been unable to positively identify any of the exhumed remains as that of the men.

The men are believed to have been buried in the paupers’ section of the cemetery where people who died in poverty between 1960 and 1970 are buried, Fullard said.

The project is a joint initiative between the South African Heritage Resources Agency, the Robben Island Museum and the City of Cape Town.

Sibongiseni Mkhize, chief executive of the Robben Island Museum, said: “This project is about the people who made Robben Island what it is today. This is not the end of the search for the remains of our loved ones, but merely a symbol to show we remember them.”

Kwedie Mkalapi, a PAC veteran who was imprisoned on Robben Island in the 1960s, described Fullard and her team as “people of honour” and thanked them for their determination.

“At least now we have a place to visit when we want to remember our friends,” Mkalapi said.

He vividly remembers his time on Robben Island, especially the fear on the faces of his fellow prisoners when the security police helicopter would fly overhead.

“We would ask: ‘Whose son are they coming to collect today?’”

He called on fellow Robben Island veterans to record their memories. Mkalapi said: “Until they speak for themselves, the world will not have a proper record of what happened on this island.”

Thursday 14 February 2013

http://www.iol.co.za/the-star/memorial-for-missing-prisoners-1.1470251#.UR0fUUH3TUI