Last Saturday, Luvuyo Gladstone Motswenyane-Tayi was buried at the Cambridge Cemetery in East London, close to his home in Mdantsane.
Motswenyane-Tayi, who was born in Duncan Village in 1954, died in Zambia in 1986 while fighting for the liberation of our country.
Like many other struggle heroes who died in exile, his remains had been in a foreign country, far away from the country he made the ultimate sacrifice for.
The repatriation of freedom fighters’ remains from front-line states, Zambia and Zimbabwe, forms part of the Resistance and Liberation Route Project (RLRP) that was initiated by the democratic government with the objective of celebrating, educating and preserving a durable testament to SA’s road to democracy.
It reflects the supreme sacrifices made by ordinary people for the freedom of our country and records epoch-defining stories, which has a significant impact on our country’s history and its difficult struggle for liberation.
It is, to me, one of the most significant undertakings by the government, and as a taxpayer, it brings me great joy that my taxes are being used to give justice to families of men and women who gave up everything for me to live in a country where the colour of my skin is no longer used to mark me out as a subservient being.
I am an atheist and in no way spiritual, but I have profound respect for the traditions that define me as a Mosotho woman.
Even when I do not understand their logic, I have always supported my family performing rituals that involve me or my private property.
I recognise that the burial ritual is extremely important to us black people.
It is not simply an act of laying our loved ones to rest.
For us, death is a rite of passage that prepares the spirit of the deceased to journey on to the next realm. It is a transition to ancestorship.
The rituals associated with burials hold significant cultural and spiritual value. They communicate profound messages for the living.
The slaughtering of an animal before the burial of a deceased loved one serves to appease the ancestors so they welcome one of their own to their realm.
The shaving of hair after the passing of a loved one communicates that life will continue after their transition, just as hair will re-grow.
Even how we consume our food before and at funerals holds profound cultural and spiritual value.
We brew umqombothi, some of which is offered to the ancestors through the process of pouring it on the ground.
And just as significantly, funeral rites and rituals bring communities together and affirm our shared humanity.
It is for this reason that when a loved one dies and cannot be buried with these rituals, we deem their spirit troubled.
Without the rituals of appeasing ancestors, our loved ones do not enter the next realm, and thus, their spirits roam around restless and without a home.
For us, this is as devastating as death itself — if not more so.
Calamities that occur in families where a loved one’s spirit roams restless are associated with not receiving a proper burial.
In our eyes, the ancestors punish families eternally for the failure to observe tradition and to appease those who came before us.
Laying Motswenyane-Tayi to rest among his own people is the greatest expression of justice.
It communicates the value the government places not only on our struggle heroes but also on the families they left behind.
Above all, it serves as recognition and respect for our traditions as black people, which we were denied during the apartheid era when our funerals were sites of control by a racist regime.
May we continue to seek justice in all its forms — and to bring our heroes back home where they belong.
HeraldLIVE
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