The Pan Africanist Congress said it will be welcoming the final return of the remains of one of its APLA commander's and combatant, Nkululeko Jako, on Wednesday.
Eastern Cape Arts and Culture MEC, Pemmy Majodina, will return from the UK to East London on Wednesday morning where she will hand-over the mortal remains of Jako to his family.
Jako was a member of a group of political prisoners, known as the Baziya 14, before he escaped the clutches of the apartheid government, fleeing to the UK.
His fellow prisoners however were executed at the gallows in Pretoria Central Prison, now known as Kgosi Mampuru ll and buried in unmarked graves.
Their remains were exhumed in Pretoria between December last year and January this year, for reburial in the Eastern Cape.
In a statement the PAC said that "Comrade Jako was crucial in establishing Poqo and PAC underground cells in the early 1960s, operating in Cape Town, Border and the then Transkei Region. He evaded arrest, and eventually skipped the country to receive military training in 1963."
"He was amongst the first group of APLA soldiers to receive military training in the People's Republic of China. He subsequently served in the High Command of APLA and in the PAC as head of Security," said PAC Provincial Secretary, Sandla Goqwana.
He said poor health caused the PAC to deploy Jako to diplomatic duties, and he was responsible for establishing many PAC diplomatic offices, in West Africa and in Europe.
"He eventually succumbed to poor health, and passed away in 1985, whilst based in England, doing PAC work of mobilising against the South African racist colonial regime of that time," said Goqwana.
"His wife Shumikazi Jako gave a moving testimony to the TRC, about how she suffered brutal torture at the hands of the Special Branch at Cambridge Police cells, being asked about the activities of her husband," he added.
Goqwana said "the PAC lauds the efforts that the government, through the MEC and other government officials, had to put up in order to ensure the successful return of these remains."
