APLA LEADER DIED OF AIDS -
A former Azanian People's Liberation Army (Apla) commander and lieutenant-colonel in the South African National Defence Force, Bruce Masangu, who died last Wednesday (March 17), had contracted Aids, his family told Sapa.
He will be buried on Saturday in Chiawelo, Soweto.
Masangu's cousin, Vuyi Mbalo, said Masangu had himself written the liturgy that will be on his funeral brochure, telling how he had contracted the HIV virus in 1993 through a girlfriend who died of Aids in 2000.
"I look healthy, provided I take care of myself. My comrades have been very supportive and I thank everybody who gave me encouragement and strength," it read.
It added that he had been taking Videx, Zenith and other supplements that cost R1500 a month.
The brochure carried a picture of Masangu meeting former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, representing the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania while in exile from apartheid.
Masangu's funeral brochure also told of his having represented the organisation at the Organisation of African Unity.
Apla's former head of military intelligence, General Raymond Fihla, confirmed Masangu's involvement in the organisation.
His funeral will take place at 2pm on Saturday at his parents' home at 3714 Chiawelo, Soweto, where he lived his last years, having retired from the SANDF when he became ill, Mbalo said.
Masangu leaves his wife, Leanah, a one-time Apla soldier and now a sergeant in the SANDF, and four teenaged daughters. The couple lost a son to disease while in exile in Tanzania, said Mbalo.
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25 Mars 2004 à 16:06 dans
- zsandf (anglais)
