{"id":12450,"date":"2013-12-27T05:33:39","date_gmt":"2013-12-27T05:33:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/praag.org\/?p=12450"},"modified":"2013-12-27T05:33:39","modified_gmt":"2013-12-27T05:33:39","slug":"victims-private-parts-displayed-like-a-trophy-during-shobashobane-massacre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praag.org\/?p=12450","title":{"rendered":"Victim’s ‘private parts displayed like a trophy’ during Shobashobane massacre"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Grave<\/a>
Grave stone at Shobashobane<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 19 people massacred at Shobashobane as they were about to celebrate Christmas 1995 should be remembered as heroes whose blood was spilt so that we could enjoy our democracy today, said KwaZulu-Natal Premier Dr Zweli Mkhize.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is our responsibility now to forgive the perpetrators of this act, and to ensure that they too are beneficiaries of our democracy,\u201d he said at a commemoration service in the area near Port Shepstone on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Mkhize, accompanied by State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele, Health MEC Sibongiseni Dhlomo, Human Settlements and Public Works MEC Ravi Pillay, suspended police chief Bheki Cele, and members of the ANC\u2019s disbanded military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe, spent Christmas with the families affected by the massacre.<\/p>\n

Cele, while struggling to hold back tears, described in graphic detail how one victim had been chopped to pieces \u201cas if someone was preparing to braai meat\u201d, and how he, together with the region\u2019s ANC leadership, had pleaded with the police days earlier to offer protection. The ANC had received information of an impending attack on all ANC supporters in the area, but their pleas fell on deaf ears.<\/p>\n

\u201cI received a call on Christmas Day saying there had been an attack and what I saw was beyond belief. The killers were parading in the area with the private parts of another victim, saying this was their trophy,\u201d said an emotional Cele.<\/p>\n

Mkhize also pledged to ensure a memorial was built on the victims\u2019 burial site, and said all their graves should have gravestones by next year.<\/p>\n

The Zulu premier lauded the community for having been at peace since 1995. \u201cI want to salute the community of Shobashobane for their commitment towards peace and reconciliation. They have said the time for political violence is over and never again should the brothers and sisters go to war against each other,\u201d he said. – Daily News and government press release<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 19 people massacred at Shobashobane as they were about to celebrate Christmas 1995 should be remembered as heroes whose blood was spilt so that we could enjoy our democracy today, said KwaZulu-Natal Premier Dr Zweli Mkhize. \u201cIt is our responsibility now to forgive the perpetrators of this act, and to ensure that they too … Continue reading “Victim’s ‘private parts displayed like a trophy’ during Shobashobane massacre”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12451,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7889,7890,612,7888,5415],"class_list":["post-12450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-7889","tag-christmas-day","tag-massacre","tag-shobashobane","tag-zweli-mkhize"],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/praag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/shobashobane.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12450"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12452,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12450\/revisions\/12452"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}