Remains of 83 hanged prisoners to be exhumed

Pretoria – Justice Minister Michael Masutha is expected to launch the Gallows Exhumation Project yesterday which will see the remains of 83 political prisoners who were hanged during the apartheid era, being exhumed.

The launch would take place at the Gallows Museum at Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre on Wednesday, formerly known as Pretoria Central Prison, where prisoners were executed until the law prohibited it under the new democratic government led by the African National Congress.

A total of 130 political prisoners were hanged on the gallows of the correctional centre between 1960 and 1990.

Forty-seven human remains of those prisoners have already been exhumed while 83 of them remain buried in unmarked graves, the department said.

The prisoners were mainly members of the Pan Africanist Congress and United Democratic Front.

Once positively identified, the prisoners’ remains will be handed over to their respective families. – AFP