'Zuma must stay away from our MK graves'

The plans of former president Jacob Zuma and members of the newly formed MK Party to visit the graves of Umkhonto We Sizwe soldiers in the Vhembe District may not proceed as smoothly as the politicians might hope. Local structures and family members of the deceased have vowed to stop them from getting anywhere close to these graves.

Earlier this week, a notice was being circulated on social-media platforms with the programme for Zuma’s visit to Giyani, Malamulele and the Vhembe District. The “meet-and-greet” sessions start on Friday, 19 January, at the Giyani Taxi Rank and end on Saturday, 20 January, at the Malamulele Stadium. On Friday, the former president and his entourage also plan on visiting the grave of Collins Chabane in Xikundu Village and that of Peter Dambuza at Makonde.

The proposed visit to the grave sites did not go down well in local circles. The Peter Dambuza Malada Foundation, the Amos Mbedzi branch that the late Malada belonged to, the Malada Family and the Collins Chabane Family have all vowed that Zuma and the MK Party will not be allowed to set foot near their loved ones' grave sites.

The Peter Dambuza Malada Foundation fired the first salvo immediately after seeing the notices advertising the visits. “We wish to distance ourselves from viral social media platforms claiming that former President J Zuma and his MK Party will visit the gravesite of the late MK Commander, Cde Peter Dambuza Malada. In our view, this is mischievous and a crude attempt to distort the true values of Cde Dambuza and what he politically stood for throughout his life,” the statement says.

The late Peter Dambuza's younger brother, Moses Malada, also lashed out at the politicians. “As the Malada family and the Peter Dambuza foundation, we therefore call upon the MK Party to desist from political opportunism, in honour of Cde Dambuza's memory,” he said.

The family of the former minister in the presidency said Collins Chabane was buried in a private cemetery, not in a public place. In a statement released by the family, they say: “We refuse that our brother’s name and that of the burial site should be used by those who are against transformation.”

Rudzani Mbedzi, the chairperson of the Amos Mbedzi ANC branch where the late Dambuza used to be a member, said that Zuma would never be allowed to touch the soil of Makonde. “We are here to protect the legacy of Peter Dambuza with everything in our midst, including laying down our lives,” he said.

Several attempts to contact a spokesperson for the MK Party drew a blank. The party’s website has no contact number and just an email address. No response was received when emails were sent to the address for media inquiries.

Date:19 January 2024

By: Victor Mukwevho

Victor Mukwevho Ne-vumbani joined the Mirror during it's inception in 1990. He joined the SABC newsroom in 1995, and was known by  listeners as "A u fhedzisela ari". He was a news editor for The Tembisan Newspaper from 2007 to 2015. He rejoined the Limpopo Mirror newspaper in June 2022 as a freelance journalist.

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