Pretoria - The families and friends of those who were executed at the Pretoria C-Max prison during the apartheid era will today have the opportunity to mourn the death of their loved ones by visiting the prison's gallows.
As part of the Department of Correctional Services' Gallows Memorialisation Project, the 300 family members will be taken to the gallows where traditional cleansing ceremonies will be performed and then the families will be taken to two cemeteries in Pretoria - Mamelodi and Rebecca Street - to pay their last respects.
Officials of the National Prosecution Authority's Missing Persons Task Team will be on hand to assist them to locate graves of their loved ones.
Religious and traditional leaders as well as counsellors and therapists will be present to help families cope with pain and trauma.
Tomorrow the gallows at the C-Max prison will officially be opened as a museum by President Jacob Zuma and Minister of Correctional Services Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula.
Zuma will unveil a dedicated wall in the gallows with individual plaques for each of the 132 political prisoners executed there.
The Gallows Memorialisation Project was undertaken by the department to acknowledge the sacrifices of the families and the contribution of those who gave their lives in the struggle for freedom.
"The intention of the project is to initiate dialogue amongst all South Africans in order to bring about healing, unity and social cohesion around this painful part of our history," Mapisa-Nqakula said.
"Not only is it the intention of this project to honour those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom but also to expose generations to the mistakes of our past so that they may never be repeated."
She hoped the project would also make all South Africans recognise why the death penalty has been abolished and has no place in the new constitutional framework.
