Premier plans to repatriate remains of struggle hero Vuyisile Mini

Moves are afoot to bury the remains of Vuyisile Mini at his ancestral home in Tsomo.

Mini's son, Xolile Mini, used this week's annual memorial lecture named in honour of his father to launch a renewed campaign to bring his remains home.

Mini was hanged by the apartheid regime in November 1964 for being a member of the ANC, a leading commander of Umkhonto Wesizwe and a unionist fighting for the rights of the workers.

Mini’s remains were exhumed from a pauper’s grave dug by the apartheid government and reburied in Port Elizabeth, where he was a prominent activist.

Speaking during the lecture, Xolile said he was happy that the lecture took place in Tsomo and viewed it as an important in terms of giving more recognition to his father's role in breaking free from the shackles of racial oppression.

“When I spoke to the premier (Oscar Mabuyane), I reminded him that my father’s remains are still in PE. His friends and family from Tsomo, where he was born, keep asking me when I will return my father’s remains from PE to be buried in Tsomo.

“This day to me shows that something will happen and the premier promised me that this will be done by government.”

His family had also written a letter to the ANC confirming their unanimous decision to rebury him in Tsomo.

He said the reburial of his father’s remains in Tsomo would contribute to the infrastructure development currently under way in the area.

“I was young when my father died. It had not yet dawned on me that our father left us and we will never enjoy the benefits of having a father and what a father does for his children."

“I felt it when I started working. When I passed Standard 6. I think I was under age when I started working because there was no other way as I had to assist our mother to raise my siblings. I thought his siblings would help me further my studies. I don’t blame them for not doing so because they took care of their children."

Mabuyane said the government was working with the Mini family to bring his remains, as well as those of some of his children, to be reburied at their ancestral home in Tsomo.

“As the provincial government we have a policy of repatriating remains of our heroes back to the land of their birth. The sports, recreation, arts and culture MEC is working with the family to ensure that we achieve this task,” he said.

He said Mini was everything to South Africans because of his dedication to the liberation of oppressed South Africans.

This year’s lecture, which took place at Tsomo Town Hall, was attended by scores of locals who sang liberation songs composed by Mini.