Plans for repatriation of South African sailors buried in Littlehampton

MINISTERS in South Africa have announced that they will be repatriating the bodies of the three sailors buried in Littlehampton who died on board the SS Mendi nearly a century ago.

Speaking on Thursday, the country’s deputy minister of defence and military veterans, Thabang Makwetla, announced plans in his defence budget speech to begin a project to repatriate and celebrate all of the 823 men who lost their lives in the early hours of February 21, 1917.

Minister Makwetla said that the tragic sinking of the SS Mendi, which remains one of the country’s worst maritime disaster, had fallen into “historical obscurity” and that a new initiative would be launched to raise more awareness about both its cultural and historical importance.

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Speaking at the South African Parliament, in Cape Town, Minister Makwetla said: “It is with an immense sense of anticipation and bewilderment that the ministry has stumbled over a real opportunity to retrieve the full story and gain access to the legendary maritime tragedy of the sinking of the troopship SS Mendi, just five years before we mark the centenary of this occurrence.

“Very little official attention was paid to this immense human tragedy both in South Africa and Britain. It drifted into historical obscurity.

“For many of the years since SS Mendi sank, it has been a story which, with few exceptions, has been largely forgotten in both countries.”

He added this had to change.

Local historian Nick Ward, of Angmering Lane, East Preston, discovered the graves of the three men – now known to be Privates Jim Mbombiya, Smith Segule and Simon Linganiso – and has been campaigning for several months to gain more recognition from the South African government.

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Last month, Nick met Minister Makwetla and spoke to him about the disaster.

Nick said: “To hear this news that the South African government will be actively seeking to embed the SS Mendi into their history is tremendous news. It is part of the country’s heritage that must not be forgotten.”

The bodies of the men washed up three miles off the coast of Littlehampton. The troops were on their way to Le Havre to reinforce the Allied forces fighting Germany on the Western Front.

Plans are in motion to preserve the wreck as a global heritage site.