Ramaphosa reveals that former ANC SG Duma Nokwe was exhumed still wearing a party scarf

JOHANNESBURG - President Cyril Ramaphosa said that when the gravesite of former African National Congress (ANC) secretary-general, Duma Nokwe, was exhumed, an ANC scarf was found wrapped around his remains.

Nokwe died and was laid to rest in Zambia in 1978, where he was exiled during the peak of the apartheid era.

He is among 49 freedom fighters whose remains were repatriated from Zambia and Zimbabwe on Wednesday, more than 30 years since their passing.

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Their legacies were honoured at a homecoming ceremony at the Freedom Hark Heritage Site in Pretoria on Friday.

Nokwe served as the ANC's secretary-general between 1958 and 1969, which is considered one of the most critical periods during the fight against oppression.

His home was raided several times by apartheid police, which led him to go into exile in Zambia where he continued to lead the party's underground work.

Ramaphosa said that it came as a shock that he was laid to rest in 1978, with an ANC scarf wrapped around his neck.

"In exile, he was a prominent voice on the continent and around the world in support of the cause of the people of South Africa. It is perhaps a sign of his esteemed place in the history of the liberation movement that his remains were exhumed still wearing an ANC scarf."

Ramaphosa added that this was a symbol of the ANC's long dedication to freedom and to abolish oppression in South Africa.