JOHANNESBURG, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- A repatriation and restitution homecoming ceremony for more than 40 South African freedom fighters who died in exile during the apartheid era was held at the Freedom Park Heritage Site and Museum in Pretoria, the country's administrative capital, Friday.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa officiated the ceremony, laying a wreath at the Wall of Names, inscribed with the names of South Africans who lost their lives in various conflicts dating back to the pre-colonial era, to honor former liberation heroes and heroines.

Ramaphosa noted that through this repatriation of the liberation fighters' remains from Zambia and Zimbabwe, their citizenships were being reinstated.

Apartheid (1948 to 1994) in South Africa was a system of racial segregation enforced by the all-white government, which required the non-white majority to live in separate areas, use separate public facilities, and have limited contact with the white population. Liberation fighters who opposed the regime faced brutal crackdowns, with many fleeing into exile in various African countries to escape persecution.

"Decades ago, these freedom fighters left a country that was at war with itself. They left a country in which the fundamental rights of its people were brutally and cruelly suppressed by apartheid, which was declared a crime against humanity," the president said.

Ramaphosa expressed sadness that these heroes did not live to see a democratic South Africa and thanked countries globally for providing refuge to South Africans escaping apartheid. "We are grateful in this instance to the governments and peoples of Zambia and Zimbabwe for having taken great care of our compatriots and enabling their remains to be repatriated," he said.

Among those repatriated are former African National Congress Secretary-General Duma Nokwe and former Pan Africanist Congress party leader John Nyathi Pokela. Enditem

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