Thabo’s final goodbye to twin killed by apartheid cops
In some African cultures, to symbolise their unity in life and death, when one twin dies the remaining one must lie in the grave before the dead twin is buried.
Argentinian forensic archaeologist, Claudia Bisso, can be seen working on the exhumed remains of one of the bodies known as the Mamelodi 10 at the Old Winterveld Cemetery, 19 December 2019, Winterveld, Pretoria. Picture: Jacques Nelles
Thabo Geldenhuys has been symbolically “buried” nine times and a 10th grave has been waiting for him for more than a decade at the Mamelodi West cemetery in Pretoria.
His twin brother, Rooibaard, was among the 10 Mamelodi youngsters murdered in an apartheid security forces operation.
The teenagers were lured to their deaths on June 26, 1986, by security police agent Joe Mamasela, who pretended to be an Umkhonto weSizwe member smuggling them out of the country to join the ANC’s military wing. Their torched bodies were buried as unidentified paupers in Winterveld, with no record of who was in which grave.
By 2009, the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) missing persons task team had identified nine of the victims, who were subsequently given proper funerals.
In some African cultures, to symbolise their unity in life and death, when one twin dies the remaining one must lie in the grave before the dead twin is buried.
Because there was no way the Geldenhuys family could know which body was Thabo’s twin he got into each grave.
Now the task team has found the last victim and the families of all 10 were taken to observe the exhumation of the remains.
The final grave can be closed but first Thabo, 50, must get in.
“I am glad that it is finally over,” he said.
– siphom@citizen.co.za
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