PRESS RELEASE
NO EMBARGO
01 May 2024
AL JAMA-AH to build a Memorial Wall in the Eastern Cape in honor of POQO members hanged by the apartheid government:
Al Jama-ah Party will be handing out IEC (Independent Electoral Commission) candidate certificates to 40 former members of the Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) in the Eastern Cape who have joined the party.
The certificates will be handed over today, Workers Day (1 May) and celebrated with the slaughtering of a cow. At this ceremony, Al Jama-ah’s leader and Member of Parliament, Hon Ganief Hendricks will officially announce the party’s project to build a Memorial Wall in honor of Poqo members who were hanged by the apartheid government.
The ceremony will be attended by the local kings, chiefs, and members of the royal families. The community in Cofimvaba have for years struggled to establish a memorial wall in remembrance of 75 Poqo freedom fighters who were hanged by the former South African apartheid government.
The younger generation of the Poqo freedom fighters are determined to keep the legacy of their elders alive. “They have approached Al Jama-ah to build the memorial wall engraved with the names of 75 Poqo freedom fighters from Cofimvaba who were hanged by the apartheid government. The memorial wall will be built at the graveyard where the exhumed remains of one of the Poqo members have been reburied in Cofimvaba,” explains Hendricks.
Hendricks says the party expects to win five provincial-, two regional-, and 2 national seats in parliament in that province. “I have given the community the undertaking to ensure that the memorial wall will be built. We must not forget that most of the political hangings by the apartheid regime, were members from the PAC; there was also a period when most of the political prisoners on Robben Island, were from the PAC. We call on the broader community to support Al Jama-ah’s campaign to build this memorial wall. We owe it to our freedom fighters who made the ultimate sacrifice,” says Hendricks.
The party has already installed a JoJo water tank at the site and its builder from Cape Town has arrived to assess the site for the building of the memorial wall.
For more information on the memorial wall contact Al Jama-ah’s hotline: 021 023 4425.
For media interviews contact:
Ms Sinazo Mtshengu:
Cell: 078 512 318