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AfriForum Youth approaches Air Force for remembrance of Church Street bomb victims

AfriForum Youth is in talks with the South African Air Force regarding the possible construction of a wall of remembrance for the 19 South Africans who lost their lives and the 217 who sustained injuries in the Church Street bomb of 20 May 1983.  

This appeal comes after the Names Verification Committee (NVC) of Freedom Park informed the youth organisation in a letter that they rejected the honouring of six of the victims on its Wall of Names, as “their biographical information indicates that they were military officers of the hateful system of apartheid, appropriately dubbed a crime against humanity by the international community”.

The victims whose names were rejected include Johannes de Villiers, Izak Jacobus Henning, Wayne Lawrence Kirtley, Anton Nel, Jacob Johannes Ras and Stephanus Sebastian Walters.

“The reasons posed are proof of the disregard and denegation of history. The one-sided telling of history by the ANC, in which ANC leaders are portrayed as untainted heroes, is wrong. It is time that the country’s history is told in its entirety,” says Henk Maree, National Chairman of AfriForum Youth.

Freedom Park also said further research is necessary to determine whether the other victims were innocent civilians, and they recommended the youth organisation to resubmit their request for consideration.

“21 South Africans died on that dark day. 19 were civilians, two were Umkhonto we Sizwe soldiers who were involved in the bomb planting. We will try without stopping to have the victims of that ANC terror act commemorated formally,” Maree concluded. 

 

  • AfriForum Youth produced a tribute video for the victims of the Church Street bomb. The video can be watched on AfriForum’s YouTube channel by clicking HERE.