Cape Town — Cape Town
TWENTY years after MK members Robbie Waterwitch and Coline Williams died in a bomb blast in Athlone, former comrades Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel paid tribute to them and other young cadres who sacrificed their lives in the fight against apartheid.

Yesterday's moving memorial started with a cleansing ceremony conducted according to !Nau rites - a ceremony to honour the memories of the departed - and concluded hours later after friends, family and famous comrades had paid their tributes at the St Mary of the Angels Catholic Church.

Many of those present were wondering whether South Africa today reflected what the two young people had fought for.

Their question was answered unequivocally by Tutu, who with his voice cracking with emotion said emphatically: "No! No! No!

"The first funeral I attended was that of Ashley Kriel, soon after I became archbishop. Our children paid a heavy price. For what? That a few among us can have fine motor cars?

"The high levels of poverty in this country are totally unacceptable. Twenty years after Robbie and Coline, people go to bed hungry.

"Please let us remember the high price we paid for our freedom. Don't squander it."

Manuel, speaking after Tutu, said the problem was not money but attitudes.

During the struggle, medics had removed bullets and teachers had written curriculums to be used after liberation, "not for overtime, not for OSD (occupation specific dispensation), but from passion", Manuel said.

He urged people to return to the preamble of the constitution - "We, the people of South Africa … believe that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity" - and to consider its import on their everyday lives.

He said ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe had told him that if a non-racial society could not be built in the Western Cape, it would not be built anywhere else in South Africa.

The role of the working class, and the reasons Cosatu workers had voted for the DA on April 22 should also be addressed, Manuel said.

"These two projects are fundamental to the quality of life and the depth of democracy in South Africa."

Convening for last night's memorial was partly to pay tribute, but also "because we know what's wrong and we know what needs to be done", Manuel added.

"We can and must drive change."

As old struggle comrades watched the documentary screened during the service, there were cries of recognition for friends who 20 years ago had not yet been "grey or bald".

Robbie and Coline's families spoke of July 23, 1989, which had started out as a sunny winter's morning.

That night, many of them had heard the bomb blast that ripped through the toilets opposite the Athlone Magistrate's Court and claimed the two young lives.

"What's surprising is that the mystery of the circumstances of their deaths has never been solved," said Robbie's uncle, Basil Snayer.

He explained that the pair had been targeting the magistrate's court because it was to be used as a voting station in a tri-cameral parliament by-election the following day.

"It's speculated that the limpet mines they planned to plant outside … were tampered with and exploded as they were being primed.

"They could have been sold out by a 'comrade' or killed by security police.

"The Truth and Reconciliation Commission said the matter should be further investigated. It never was."

To the uninformed, erecting a statue of two young heroes just a couple of metres away from ugly public toilets seems an odd choice.

But that is where Waterwitch and Williams died. And that is where they will be remembered.