Introductory remarks by the Hon Andries Nel, MP, Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development at the Handover and Reburial Ceremony of the Exhumed Remains of Mr Alex Matsepane and Mr Solomon Mawasha, held at Ga-Maupa village, Greater Letaba Municipality, Limpopo
Re a leboga Programme Director.
Kgotsong!
Thobela!
Re a le dumediša ka moka!
Ketapele ya Molaotheo e re:
“Rena, batho ba Afrika Borwa,
Re lemoga ditlho-katoka tša rena tša bogologolo;
Re tlotla bao ba ilego ba hloko-faletšwa toka le tokologo nageng ya gaborena.”
We are here today in Ga-Maupa Village because we recognise the injustices of our past.
We are with the families of Alex Matshapa Matsepane and Solomon Ma-nko-pane Mawasha because we honour those who suffered for justice and freedom in our land.
We are committed to heal the divisions of the past and establish a society based on democratic values, social justice, and fundamental human rights.
That is what Alex Matsepane and Solomon Mawasha fought for as members of the United Democratic Front (UDF).
They were part of the generation of Young Lions of the 1980s.
They responded to the call made by President Oliver Tambo in the ANC’s January 8 Statement in 1984 to make apartheid ungovernable.
In this statement President Tambo described the UDF as, “a product of our people`s determination to be their own liberators.”
To counter the divide and rule tactics of the apartheid regime, the slogan of the UDF was: „UDF Unites, Apartheid Divides.”
President Tambo made the clarion call that:
“We must begin to use our accumulated strength to destroy the organs of government of the apartheid regime.
We have to undermine and weaken its control over us, exactly by frustrating its attempts to control us.
We should direct our collective might to rendering the enemy`s instruments of authority unworkable.
To march forward must mean that we advance against the regime`s organs of state-power, creating conditions in which the country becomes increasingly ungovernable.”
Mawasha and Matsepane were arrested and convicted for their role in killing members of the Tribal Council and suspected informers in September 1985.
They were sentenced to death on 13 June 1986 in the Tzaneen Circuit Court by Mr Justice Grosskopf.
They were executed by hanging on death row in Pretoria on 5 December 1986. They were 20 and 21 years old.
It is a fitting historic irony that in 1986 another Grosskopf, Hein Grosskopf, joined the ANC, and swelled the ranks of uMkhonto weSizwe.
As part of the MK Special Operations Unit, Hein Grosskopf bombed the SADF Wits Command in March 1987.
On 6 June 2025 we commemorated the 30th anniversary of the Constitutional Court’s unanimous judgment in S v Makwanyane.
This landmark judgment declared that the death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment and is therefore unconstitutional.
In her judgment Justice Kate O’Regan said:
“The death sentence has been part of South African law since the colonial era.
Not only has the law permitted the death sentence, but it has been regularly imposed by courts and carried out by the government.
For many years, South Africa had the doubtful honour of being a world leader in the number of judicial executions carried out.
Although there is some uncertainty about the statistics, it appears that between 1981 and 1990 approximately 1100 people were executed in South Africa, including the Transkei, Ciskei, Bophuthatswana and Venda.
The death sentence was imposed sometimes for crimes that were motivated by political ideals.
In this way the death penalty came to be seen by some as part of the repressive machinery of the former government. “
In finding the death penalty unconstitutional she argued that:
“The right to life is more than existence, it is a right to be treated as a human being with dignity: without dignity, human life is substantially diminished. Without life, there cannot be dignity.
Respect for the dignity of all human beings is particularly important in South Africa. For apartheid was a denial of a common humanity.
Black people were refused respect and dignity and thereby the dignity of all South Africans was diminished.
The new constitution rejects this past and affirms the equal worth of all South Africans.
Thus recognition and protection of human dignity is the touchstone of the new political order and is fundamental to the new constitution.”
Today, thanks to the sacrifices of Alex Matsepane and Solomon Mawasha we have defeated apartheid and established a new political order – a constitutional democracy.
Unfortunately, this new political order for which they died is being threatened by powerful forces both at home, and abroad.
This year, we celebrated Freedom Day under the theme: “United in Resilience for the Defence of Our Freedom and Democracy.”
Today, to use President Tambo’s words, we must use our accumulated strength to build and defend the organs of government of the democratic state from crime, corruption, and state capture.
We call upon all patriots to honour this call.
For decades, the families of Alex Matsepane and Solomon Mawasha were denied the dignity of a proper farewell.
Today, we right that wrong.
Bringing our heroes home to Ga-Maupa restores the dignity of them, their families, their community, our nation, and their organisation the African National Congress.
It honours our nation’s promise to honour those who suffered for justice and freedom in our land.
It is my privilege to introduce Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi to conduct this solemn ceremony.
Minister Kubayi exemplifies the quality of leadership that our country needs in an ethical and capable developmental state.
A state that seeks to transform South Africa into a united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous nation.
A nation in which we improve the quality of life of all citizens and free the potential of each person.
She is a Young Lion of our democracy. In 1994 she was not old enough to vote.
After 1994, however, she has served in no less than seven ministerial portfolios —from Energy, Tourism, and Human Settlements, to Science and Technology.
Today, she serves as the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, leading one of our country's most vital portfolios with strength, vision, and compassion.
She is someone whose wisdom, integrity and leadership are widely respected – as a colleague, as a comrade and as a source of inspiration in our shared journey towards building a better life for all.
Please join me in welcoming Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi to the podium.
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