Writer and composer Enoch Mankayi Sontonga was 24 years of age when he wrote the national anthem Nkosi Sikelel’ IAfrica. There were uncertainties around the exact year of his death, but it was finally established that the exact date was 18 April 1905. The African National Congress launched his hymn into prominence as an anthem of black struggle against oppression seven years after his death.
Sontonga’s grave was unknown until the City of Johannesburg invited city officials, archaeologists and historians to locate it. It was in the Native Christian section of Braamfontein cemetery.
His grave was declared a national monument in 1996 when Nelson Mandela called for the erection of a memorial to Sontonga on the first post-apartheid Heritage Day.
On 18 April 2005 the Johannesburg City Parks planned an event to commemorate his death.
