The family of slain photographer Anton Hammerl have published the letter that they have written to President Jacob Zuma ahead of his trip to Libya for “discussions” with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi next week. It’s hoped that this will put further pressure on Zuma to ensure the secure return of Hammerl’s remains to South Africa.

The letter comes at a time when the presidency has also had to deny reports that Gaddafi would be granted asylum in South Africa should he seek it.

Their appeal to Zuma:

26 May 2011

Dear Mr President,

We come to you in this, the darkest hour of our lives.

For 45 days we campaigned to have Anton Hammerl found, freed and brought home from Libya.

In all those weeks we did not imagine that we would now be campaigning to have the remains of our son, our husband, our brother and our father brought home.

All we, as his family, have at our disposal to negotiate with Libya is you and the South African government. Anton was not backed by a big media corporation.

Today we beseech you, as a family man and father, as a South African, but mostly as president of this country, which has good relations with Libya and which is influential on the continent, to help locate Anton’s remains and have them returned home so that he can be put to rest.

We ask you to please be our hearts and to be our voices in appealing to Libya for the whereabouts of Anton’s remains.

It is imperative for us that he is not failed on this level.

We ourselves cannot rest until Anton is given a proper burial in South Africa at a site that will become a place where his children, Aurora (11), Neo (7) and Hiro (15 weeks) can come to pay tribute to their father.

Anton was a proud South African and a photographer with decades of experience covering South Africa. He was a true ambassador for the country in the journalistic profession.

From the moment Anton disappeared in Libya, we have lived an unimaginable nightmare, which became a living one when we heard last Thursday that he had been killed.

Our lives have come to a standstill and even though we now have some idea of what happened to Anton on April 5, our hearts and minds are still in Libya every waking moment, trying to reach out to our son, our husband, our brother and our father, not knowing where his body is.

We ask you to please use your influence on the continent to help finally bring Anton home to us, so that he can rest under the South African skies that he loved so much.

Our nightmare cannot end until he is home.

Yours sincerely,

Penny (wife), Freda (mother) Ludwig (father) Alex (brother) Aurora (daughter), Neo (son) and Hiro (son)

One can only hope that this will help pave the way for common decency to now prevail.

[Source: Facebook]