Picture: Twitter/@GovernmentZA
On Saturday morning, friends and family of the late Solomon Mahlangu joined government and ANC officials at the prison in Pretoria where Mahlangu was hanged 40 years ago.
In attendance was ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule and Minister of Arts and Culture Nathi Mthethwa, who gave a keynote address.
It was announced this week that Mahlangu’s mother Martha’s home in Mamelodi West is set to become a national heritage site.
Mahlangu was hanged by the apartheid regime on April 6 1979 at the Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre, then known as the Pretoria Central Prison.
He was an operative of the ANC military wing, uMkhonto weSizwe. He was convicted of the murder of two white civilians in Johannesburg.
The execution provoked international protest and condemnation of South Africa’s internal policy. In fear of crowd reaction at the funeral, the police decided to bury Mahlangu in Atteridgeville.
On 6 April 1993 he was reinterred at the Mamelodi Cemetery, where a plaque states his supposed last words: “My blood will nourish the tree that will bear the fruits of freedom. Tell my people that I love them. They must continue the fight.”
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