‘Did Ashley die for no reason?’
The sister of slain MK cadre Ashley Kriel says the factionalism and infighting in the ANC makes her wonder what her 20-year-old brother died for.
|||Cape Town - A nervous and tearful Melanie Adams wondered aloud whether her brother Ashley Kriel’s death was in vain, while surrounded by his former militant comrades.
Kriel is a celebrated fighter of the ANC’s armed wing, uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK).
He was 20 years old when apartheid police killed him at a house in Albermarle Road in Athlone on July 9, 1987.
Adams was at the house on Saturday for a commemorative wreath-laying ceremony.
She and her sister Michel Assure were joined by ANC leaders at the event organised by the ANC Youth League.
“We have asked what he has died for because in the ANC there are so many factions, and we ask if it’s worth it,” said Adams.
“The real struggle has begun. We don’t know who our enemies are in the movement.”
She added: “Only when it comes to certain events - then his name is called upon and people use it for elections. They exploit our emotions too.
“When everybody leaves we feel the hurt like it happened on Saturday. We don’t see those people (otherwise).”
Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown, a former MK member and by now a veteran politican, said they needed to address “lies told about MK soldiers”.
Brown pointed out that only this year had local forensic scientist David Klatzow revealed that Kriel did not commit suicide.
“That’s the lie we lived with,” she said.
Klatzow revealed photographic evidence that Kriel was not shot during a scuffle while resisting arrest, as police officers had told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the 1990s.
Klatzow said evidence showed it was more likely Kriel had been shot from a distance, while his hands were cuffed behind his back.
Brown said they had believed it was suicide because “in MK you kill yourself if you’re in a tight spot” instead of being arrested and revealing information to the apartheid police.
She added the house should be turned into a “permanent memorial to Ashley and all those who have given their lives in this province”.
Non-profit organisation Ikamva Ubomi (Future Life for All) currently rents the house and plans to turn it into a life skills centre.
Saturday’s gathering of fewer than 50 people included provincial deputy police commissioner Major-General Jeremy Vearey, as well as former Hawks boss Anwar Dramat.
Both were part of MK.
Another former MK member Gorie November, who features in the biographical documentary film Action Kommandant about Kriel, said they were “not just a normal army”.
“We fought battles not only in this country. We went out and trained and came back for more battles,” said November.
He told Kriel’s sisters: “When they mention your brother was MK, feel proud of him.
Weekend Argus