CAPE TOWN – The brother of murdered freedom fighter Basil February says he wishes the repatriation would happen while his parents were alive.

February, who was an agent of uMkhonto weSizwe, was killed in combat after being exiled to Zimbabwe in 1967.

Fifty-seven years after he was shot dead by apartheid security forces in Bulawayo, February’s remains were returned to South Africa in September.

Terence February, Basil’s younger brother, said the family was finally able to begin to heal.

However, after burying her brother at the family burial site in Somerset West on Tuesday, February said she wished it would happen sooner.

“My only regret is that after all these years, I think it would have been much better if this repatriation had happened while my mother and father were alive.”

February said that as he buried his brother, his thoughts were with his mother.

“My mother mourned Basil’s death from 1967 until the day he died in 2004.”

February said that, although it seemed surreal, burying his brother in his homeland had brought relief to the family.