A local World War II veteran, Corporal Simon Manzere (87), has been invited to attend the wreath-laying ceremony by the Mendi Memorial Committee. He left for Gauteng yesterday (Thursday). Manzere, from Mutshenzheni village, was posted for service on December 11, 1940, at the age of 22. He served in the Native Military Corps and was discharged on 27 October 1945.

The function, which was formally scheduled for 21 February, takes place today (Friday) at Avalon Cemetery, Soweto, from 09:00 to 11:00. The wreath-laying ceremony is a tribute to over 600 men who lost their lives during the deliberate sabotage of a troopship, the SS Mendi, on February 21, 1917. This has been recorded as the greatest military disaster in South Africa.

“I feel highly honored to be invited to this function. I knew that one day the fruits of my hard labour would be paid back,” said the jubilant Manzere.

On this 89th anniversary of the sinking of SS Mendi, the Minister of Defence, Mr. Mosiuoa Lekota, and the Chief of the SANDF, Genl Godfrey Ngwenya, will be joined by senior government and military officials, members of the diplomatic community, representatives of local and international organizations and institutions, business and civil society, as well as hundreds of world war and liberation struggle veterans and their families. The long-overdue, incomplete commission of enquiry into the sabotage of SS Mendi, set to resume in the near future, will also be announced during the function.

Recently, the government of South Africa officially gave honour to the fallen of the Mendi by naming one of the national orders the ‘SS Mendi Order of Bravery’, as well as naming one of the new naval ships the SS Mendi.

The chairperson of the Mendi Memorial Committee, Mr MK Malefane, said the ceremony at Avalon Cemetery will be followed by a reception luncheon in honour of elder persons at Thokoza Park, Rockville.

In the early morning of 21 February, 1917, a crowded troopship, the SS Mendi, was making its cautious way to France. Suddenly, another vessel loomed up out of the fog and rammed the troopship, which quickly sank into the icy waters of the English Channel. The stricken ship carried black South African troops.

In March 1995, Queen Elizabeth II and the then President Nelson Mandela and Gauteng Premier, Tokyo Sexwale, officially unveiled the Mendi Memorial & Garden of Remembrance at Avalon Cemetery, in memory of the fallen of Mendi and all those who gave their lives during World War I and II.

In July 2006, a delegation of the veterans and relatives of the fallen Mendi and traditional leaders will join international 90th anniversary commemorations of the battle of Delville Wood in France and will also visit other World War I cemeteries in France and England where members of the South African Native Labour Contingent are buried. They will also lay wreaths atop the site of the Mendi Wreck in the English Channel.