THE remains of 42 South African freedom fighters who died while exiled in Zimbabwe and Zambia during the struggle against the racist apartheid regime have been brought home.

They were received by government officials and family members at Waterkloof air force base in the capital Pretoria on Wednesday after being exhumed for reburial in the country of their birth.

The repatriation was part of a government programme to bring closure to families whose loved ones died away from home while serving in the underground structures of the African National Congress or the Pan Africanist Congress, according to officials.