User:Nrnval001

Dikgope 'Magic Bones' Madi

Dikgope Madi was an Umkhonto we Sizwe, or MK, combatant involved in the liberation struggle under apartheid. The investigation undertaken around his death and exhumation illustrates the challenges faced by the exhumation process of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Indeed the investigation revealed that Mr Madi was suspected to have died in August 1983 at Tshipise, Venda, in an incident that cost the life of two other combatants Mr Patrick Motswaletswale and Mr Humbulani Mulaudzi. The family of Mr Motswaletswale was the first to contact the Ministry of Safety and Security in order for this incident to be investigated. The case was later transferred to the TRC’s Johannesburg office which established the identity of the combatants, Mr Motswaletswale and Mr Mulaudzi but the third combatants was referred to as Mr Mandi. The only information about the latter was that he was originally from Alexandra. Once the burial site located in Mbaleni in Sibasa, the Commission undertook to establish the connexion between Mr Madi and Mr Mandi and therefore to carry out an exhumation. This process led to an MK officer based in Zimbabwe of the time of the death of the combatants identifying Mr Mandi as being Mr Madi. However, the necessary information confirming the identity of the deceased was scarce. Andrew Mandi was not listed as an ANC operative dead in exile but Andrew Madi was one of them, registered as killed in Zimbabwe in 1979. Complicating the matter, the two other combatants were listed as having been killed in August 1983 in Venda.