DEPUTY minister of defence and military veterans Thabang Makwetla stressed the importance of commemorating the lives of young activists who fought for change.
Makwetla was speaking during a wreath laying ceremony and 43rd commemoration of freedom fighter Monageng Xoliso Mmakou in Temba, Tshwane on Thursday, 14 December.
Monageng was the youngest victim of a bomb blast in a house in Manzini, Swaziland, during apartheid and the struggle for liberation.
At the age of 16, he left the country for Swaziland in 1977 when he was still a student, seeking to oppose the apartheid government and continue with the struggle for freedom.
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He underwent military training in Angola as an uMkhonto we Sizwe combatant and was then sent to Swaziland to undertake MK covert military operations in South Africa, until he met his untimely death when he was 18 years old.
Makwetla said the struggle against injustice, inequalities and oppression in the country claimed many lives.
“It's important that what defines us should always be in abundance in our society for the future generation to appreciate the challenges of the many years we are coming from so that they must not repeat the mistakes of the past.
“There are people such as the one we are here for who went into a struggle to involve themselves to fight for change at a very young age and at the end their lives were cut short. We must respect those who made sacrifices and honour them,” said Makwetla.
Former SANDF member and retired Brigadier, General Daisy Chiloane, who got to know Monageng when they were in Angola, said she feels she only got closure now because all along she never knew how her fellow comrade died.
Monageng's sister, Nozipho Mmakou, said the family was not surprised when her brother left the country because he was passionate about fighting inequality.
“He was well informed, very intelligent and determined to fight for change. He died for what he was passionate for, and my wish is to see the youth of today learning something from what struggle fighters did for the current generation,” she said.
Monageng was given a hero’s burial on 4 June 1980 in Hammanskraal, Tshwane.
