The National Prosecuting Authority’s missing persons task team will be conducting exhumations at Tshikota cemetery, near Makhado in the Limpopo province on Monday.
NPA spokesman Tlali Tlali said investigators were looking for the bodies of four African National Congress uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) members who were shot dead in an encounter with the former South African Defence Force (SADF) on 10 November 1983 near Alldays.
Tlali said the four were buried at Tshikota cemetery by a local undertaker as unidentified paupers.
The exhumation will be attended by family members of the deceased as well as government and political representatives from the province.
The identities of the deceased will only be finally confirmed following DNA testing after the exhumation.
Investigations indicate that Leslie Moatshe (MK Vusi), Joseph Ditaba Tshinga (MK Stoney or Thabo Mopedi), and Geoffrey Tholi Ramokopelo (MK Daniel April) were among the deceased.
The identity of the fourth deceased will be confirmed at a later stage.
After the exhumation, the remains will undergo forensic examination by forensic anthropologists and DNA testing at the DNA laboratory at the University of the Western Cape (UWC).
This process will take several months to complete.
“This will establish the cause of death and provide scientific confirmation of the identities of the deceased persons,” said Tlali.
