Mbeki unveils tribute to fallen in SAfrica battles

PRETORIA, Dec 17 (Reuters) Constance Phela's uncertainty faded the day South African authorities confirmed a mass grave held the bone dust of her brother, one of thousands of anti-apartheid activists who disappeared decades ago.

''I always wondered if somehow, somewhere I'd meet him. But now that I know his end I feel free,'' said Phela, 49, smiling.

''Today, I know my brother is a hero.'' South Africa marked National Reconciliation Day yesterday by unveiling a wall engraved with some 70,000 names of both well-known and unsung fighters who struggled to overturn colonial rule and apartheid.

The 760 million rand memorial spans several kilometers overlooking South Africa's capital and the winding wall is expected to grow to 136,000 names as more relatives and friends come forward to nominate deceased loved ones.

The unveiling took place on a public holiday that once marked a vicious battle between English colonialists and Zulus, marking another step in forging unity after South Africa's divisive past, President Thabo Mbeki said.

Mbeki noted that it paid tribute to South Africans of all races who perished in conflicts from the pre-colonial wars to slavery up to the 1976 Soweto township uprisings in which dozens of protesting black youths were shot down by apartheid police.

''Freedom Park is not an epitaph. It is a place that resonates with the joy of a celebration of freedom and equality for all people,'' he said after lighting the Eternal Flame, part of the tribute to the fallen.

Almost 2,000 family and friends of those fighters gathered for the ceremony at Freedom Park, a hillside in Pretoria that will host a shrine, museum and amphitheatre when fully developed in 2009.

Another 13,000 people -- many in multi-coloured traditional dress representing the country's diverse cultural groups -- were bused in from across the country to watch the event live on television screens in a nearby stadium.

But some said the brutal history of South Africa, which became a multi-racial democracy in 1994 with Nelson Mandela as the first president of the post-apartheid era, could not be forgotten or forgiven so quickly.

Many black South Africans feel betrayed by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission -- set up to probe apartheid atrocities -- after it granted amnesty to around 1,000 perpetrators of crimes.

''It is not that easy to have closure. The perpetrators are still out there and mothers are still crying out for their children,'' said Nozi Mohale, 45, whose T-shirt pictured activist Nokuthula Simelane with the words ''Abducted, Tortured, Disappeared, October 1983.'' ''I see very few white people here. You ask where they are if this is supposed to be about reconciliation,'' said Ephraim Mabena, 49, a self-described traditional doctor, waving his wooden stick and wrapped in a cotton kanga cloth.

Reuters AKJ GC0850