On June 16 also remember: Mbuyisa Makhubu was a lanky 18-year-old high school pupil in dungarees when he was pictured in photojournalist Sam Nzimas June 16 1976 photograph. In the photo he is holding a dying Hector Pieterson, running alongside Pietersons sister, Antoinette Sithole. The anguish on their teenage faces was soon published all over the world, turning Makhubu from an obedient, sympathetic child (in the words of his mother) into an accidental hero. Last year saw the failure of a department of arts and culture-initiated project to repatriate a man – believed to be the very same Mbuyisa Makhubu – detained in Canada for 10 years on immigration charges. The DNA results into his identity were pronounced inconclusive. But for the Makhubu family, hope remains. Makhubus younger brother, Raul, and his wife Adelaide said former arts and culture minister Paul Mashatile asked them last year to say the results were inconclusive, in order to buy more time to repatriate the man. Raul told the M ail & Guardian that it was Peter Donaldson, an investigator with the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA), who convinced him that the man detained in Canada was his brother. He said Donaldson, who is in regular contact with the detainee, contacted him after watching a June 16 broadcast on the internet. He phoned the SABC, got my number and then he called me, saying: ‘We have somebody here that we believe could be your brother, says Raul from his sparsely furnished home in Orlando West. He then asked me: Does he have any mark on his body? Identifying mark Raul says his brother has a moon-shaped birthmark on the left side of his chest. It was exactly the same as the one described to him by Donaldson. Right then I could tell it was him, before any DNA was taken or before I could see any photographs. Birthmarks are a recurring phenomenon in the Makhubu family. Besides the resemblance, their late mother, Nombulelo, said it was a birthmark that was used to confirm Makhubus son Thatos identity to the family after he was born in Botswana. #Yesu_wamadinga
Posted on: Sun, 15 Jun 2014 07:13:41 +0000
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