24 April, let us pause to remember these young men and women from our Generation who answered the Sunset call.
24 April 1971: 05197744PE Captain Petrus Jacobus from the Administrative Service Corps was found dead in Pretoria from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. He was 29.
24 April 1982: One member from 5 SAI and one member from 101 Battalion SWATF were killed when their Buffel Troop Carrier overturned near Eenhana in Northern Owamboland. The Casualties were:
76273986BG Rifleman Glen Bjorn Du Plooy from 5 SAI. He was 21.
8862147HV Rifleman Ronald Andreas from 101 Battalion SWATF. He was 26.
(NOTE: Rifleman Glen Du Plooy had narrowly escaped with his life only three days earlier when his Buffel Troop Carrier was hit by a Yugoslavian M-60 High Explosive Anti-Tank Rifle Grenade during an ambush with a group of heavily armed SWAPO/PLAN insurgents).
24 April 1988: 82529793KT Rifleman Wynand Johannes Jacobus Badenhorst from the Benoni Commando was critically injured and died a short while later after suffering a skull fracture in a private motor vehicle accident in Brakpan. He was 23.
24 April 1994: Seven Civilians were killed and thirteen others injured when a car bomb exploded at 09h50 outside the offices of the African National Congress in Bree Street, Johannesburg. The casualties in this incident were:
Peter Lester Malcolm Ryland
Jostine Makho Buthelezi
Makomene Alfred Matsepane
Goodman Dumisani Ludidi
Gloria Thoko Fani
Susan Keane. She died from internal bleeding caused by the blast shockwave over-pressure while sitting inside her motor vehicle that was parked nearby.
One unknown Civilian Male who’s remains could not be positively identified.
24 April 1997 91729707PE Corporal Shadrack Maimele Seemela from 5 Special Forces Regiment was Killed in a Military Vehicle Accident at Wahlmansthal. He was 25.
24 April 2018: Corporal Mgongeni Hlekwane from 4 SAI was killed in a military bus accident on the Hectorspruit road between Nelspruit and Macadamia. He was 43.
Their names and sacrifices will not be forgotten.