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Umkhonto fighters tell their stories

IN STEP: After the ANC was banned in 1960 thousands of its members went into exile, joining its military wing Umkhonto weSizwe in camps in several African countries Photo: ZOLILE NQOSE COLLECTION
IN STEP: After the ANC was banned in 1960 thousands of its members went into exile, joining its military wing Umkhonto weSizwe in camps in several African countries Photo: ZOLILE NQOSE COLLECTION

Former Umkhonto weSizwe hitman and guerrilla commander Pumlani Kubukeli looks away as he relates the traumatic experiences of the notorious mutiny by MK combatants in Angola in 1984.

He vividly tells of the warning gunfire from the mutineers as he and late MK chief of staff Chris Hani left the training base to deliver the message to the ANC leadership.

"It was warning shots to say we are armed and better make sure our demands are met or else, as we left," he said.

Kubukeli was donating his story to the Freedom Park's Pan African Archives, the interactive living collection of Struggle tales and experiences.

The Park, with an annual budget of R70-million, is tasked with the preservation of the legacy of humanity's struggle for freedom.

His account documents the events of February 1984, when the Committee of Ten was elected in Viana camp on the outskirts of Luanda, Angola, to represent the demands of MK troops to the ANC leadership.

Kubukeli, 89, was in the military wing's special operation unit or "Icing Unit", which was responsible for taking out guerrillas-turned-apartheid-agents.

He and three others were granted amnesty for the murder of a defector and an attempt to murder another in Mthatha in June 1990.

The electronic account, like thousands of others, can be accessed with the push of a button at the repository of South Africa's indigenous knowledge.

Kubukeli said reliving the stories was so traumatic that he advised Freedom Park management to organise counselling for the story-tellers after the sessions.

Freedom Park acting CEO Jane Mufamadi said the life-long project started in April last year to get first-hand accounts of Struggle stories.

"We have a story that we are telling based on epochs to narrate the history, heritage and indigenous knowledge. We look at the epochs and identify gaps and we approach the liberation movements to identify participants," Mufamadi said.

She said they also document international solidarity and have already collected accounts of former Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda, Struggle stalwart professor Denis Goldberg and other Struggle heroes.

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