×

We've got news for you.

Register on SowetanLIVE at no cost to receive newsletters, read exclusive articles & more.
Register now

Burial of apartheid victim brings peace to grandson

File Photo
File Photo

The grandson of Johannes Sweet Sambo‚ who was killed by the apartheid government’s security police‚ said the symbolic burial of his grandfather had brought him peace‚ but not all family members felt the same way.

Hopewell Sambo‚ 17‚ was speaking at the funeral of Sambo‚ Selby Mavuso and Sizwe Kondile at Freedom Park‚ Pretoria‚ on Friday. They had been killed during the 1980s and 1990s but‚ like other uMkhonto we Sizwe cadres and South Africans‚ their bodies had either been destroyed or not found.

Hopewell said it was a privilege to be related to Sambo and was happy that his grandfather had been honoured and laid to rest at Freedom Park. “But some of the family [members] said it’s not enough.”

“I feel that what he fought and died for worked because racism is over.

“It’s been great to hear all these things that I didn’t know about my grandfather. But it made me angry and frustrated to hear how he died.”

Sambo was arrested at his home in Steenbok village‚ Mpumalanga‚ in 1991 after police suspected him of bringing weapons into South Africa. He was violently interrogated and died.

According the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report‚ former death squad commander Eugene de Kock received a call from Flip de Beer‚ the Komatipoort security branch commander‚ telling him that a suspect had died of a botched tubing and the use of excessive force during interrogation. He asked for De Kock’s help in disposing of the body.

As commander of the unit based at Vlakplaas‚ De Kock called Johannes Swart‚ Kobus Klopper and Nicholaas Vermeulen and a Charlie Chiat to assist De Beer‚ according to the report. They picked up Sambo’s body at Middelburg and took it to the explosives range at Verdacht training camp.

The next day they placed explosives on the body and blew it up. They combed the area and gathered “whatever bits of the body that could be found” and blew them up again and again.

The four applicant were granted amnesty. De Kock was given six years imprisonment.

 

http://www.justice.gov.za/trc/decisions%5C2001/ac21141.htm

 

 

Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.

Speech Bubbles

Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.