Solomon Mahlangu: The Young Freedom Fighter Who Became a Scapegoat of South Africa’s Apartheid Regime

Solomon Mahlangu, a member of Umkhonto we Siwe (MK), the paramilitary wing of the African National Congress (ANC), was one of many victims of South Africa’s dreadful apartheid government. In 1977, the young activist was wrongfully accused of murder and other terrorism-related charges, and sentenced to death by hanging. On 6^th April, 1979, the 22-year-old life was cut short, sparking outrage from the local and international community.

Today, Mahlangu is revered as one of the martyrs in Black South Africa’s quest for freedom. In this article, we will explore the events that led to Mahlangu’s unjust killing and his indomitable spirit even in the face of death.

The Making of a Freedom Fighter

Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu was born in Pretoria, South Africa on 10^th July, 1956—though some sources claim he was born in another town called Middelburg. His father deserted his family in 1962, and from then on, became a blue-moon sighting in young Mahlangu’s life. His mother, Martha Mahlangu, a domestic worker for a Boer family, was left with the responsibility for his and his older brother's upbringing.

They lived in Mamelodi, a township on the outskirts of Pretoria which had been established as a Blacks-only area in 1953. The town, alongside Ga-Rankuwa and Atteridgeville, housed Blacks who had been dispossessed of their land in Pretoria. Needless to say, Mamelodi was a sorely impoverished community.

Mahlangu attended Mamelodi High School up to Standard 8 (Grade 10), but his schooling was cut short in 1976 by the school’s closure. This happened in the wake of the ongoing Soweto uprisings against a push by the Bantu Education Department's directive to make Afrikaans the medium of instruction in schools for Black students. This ploy was passionately opposed by Black activists since Afrikaans was the language of the country’s oppressive white minority.

Disturbed by the subjugation of his people, Mahlangu joined the protests in Mamelodi after being recruited by ANC member, Thomas Masuku. At the time, the ANC was an anti-apartheid liberation movement, not the prominent political party it is today. The protests were supposed to be peaceful, but facing intense opposition from the police, the disgruntled demonstrators often fought back. During the infamous June 16 protest in particular, a 12-year-old schoolboy named Hector Pieterson was killed, alongside 10 other fatalities and 250 casualties.

This was the turning point for many Black South African youths, including Mahlangu who left for Mozambique and Angola to be trained as an MK soldier. Mahlangu was part of the new generation of MK recruits, called ‘the June 16 Detachment’, because the group mainly comprised students who participated in the uprisings of 1976.

Mahlangu did not inform his family of his decision to join the ANC and MK, only leaving a vague note under his brother, Lucas’s pillow with the words:

“Boet Lucas, Boet Lucas, Boet Lucas, don’t look for me, I have left and you’ll never find me”.

It was the father of one of Mahlangu’s travel companions, Temba Nkosi, who later informed Mahlangu’s family that he had joined the ANC in exile.

Unfortunately, Mahlangu’s MK endeavor began with a 6-month stay at Xai Xai refugee camp in Mozambique, alongside Nkosi and Richard Chauke. They were later rescued and taken to an ANC training facility, called ‘Engineering’, in Angola. Mahlangu was rotated between various units within he training camp, but eventually landed in a smaller unit of 10 men led by Julius Mokoena, who in turn reported to the commander in chief, Joe Modise. Also in his unit were Mondy Johannes Motloung and George ‘Lucky’ Mahlangu, whom Solomon Mahlangu would form the closest ties with. The entire unit was taken through crash courses in sabotage, military combat, political education and scouting.

Murder on Goch Street

In June, 1977, about 9 months after he left, he, alongside his unit, journeyed to SA as a cadre to join the student protests commemorating the June 16 uprising of the previous year. They each had with them their ‘Dead Letter Boxes’ (DLBs) comprising arms, ammunition, explosives and ANC pamphlets. The unit was split into cells of 3 and Lucky and Motloung were Mahlangu’s assigned cellmates. They landed in South Africa on 11^th June, after taking great pains to hide the contents of their DLBs at each stop on the way.

 Two days later, Mahlangu and his cellmates made their way to the Diagonal Street taxi rank in Johannesburg, hoping to board a taxi to Soweto. The police were well aware of the planned commemoration of the June 16 uprising, so they patrolled the area in numbers. A Black policeman noticed Mahlangu and his group boarding the taxi with large bags, so he approached them. On grabbing one of the bags, a grenade and AK-47 gun fell out, causing the policeman to run for cover. The trio panicked and fled the scene, disappearing into the crowd.

Lucky was able to escape while Mahlangu and Motloung unluckily ran towards John Vorster Square, the most notorious police station in the area. They narrowly escaped a policeman, but Mahlangu got shot in the ankle, slowing down the pace of his escape. At Goch Street, they took cover in John Orr’s warehouse, but a panicked Motloung shot at and killed two of John Orr’s employees. There had also been two casualties during the course of the chase.

In a matter of minutes, police surrounded the whole area and clobbered Mahlangu and Motloung, with a few onlookers joining in the beating. The duo was taken into custody at John Vorster Square Prison and soon, the media branded them ‘Terrrorists in the country’.

For 90 days, Mahlangu and Motloung were pounded by the police and it wasn’t until 7^th November that Mahlangu’s case finally went to court. He was charged with two counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder and multiple charges of sabotage under the Terrorism Act, but pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

The judge agreed that Motloung was responsible for the actual killings, but, having been battered during the course of his detention, he had suffered severe brain damage and was unfit to stand trial. Yet, since the doctrine of Common Purpose had been applied, Mahlangu was the one who was found guilty of the aforementioned crimes. He was sentenced to death by hanging on 2^nd March, 1978, even though the actual crimes he committed were only supposed to earn him a 5-year imprisonment.

A Fruitful Legacy

Mahlangu’s plea to appeal his sentence was denied by the Rand Supreme Court on 15^th June, 1978. About a month later, he was refused again in the Bloemfontein Appeal Court, even though the United Nations (UN), various international bodies and prominent figures pressured the South African government to lessen his sentence. On 6^th April, 1979 in Pretoria Central Prison, Solomon Mahlangu’s hanging became the first execution of a political prisoner in the country in more than a decade.

The execution sparked international outrage and denouncement of SA’s internal policy. Fearing the reaction of the crowd at the funeral, the police decided to bury Mahlangu in Atteridgeville. On 6^th April, 1993, over a decade later, Mahlangu was reinterred at the Mamelodi Cemetery. On his grave is a plaque inscribed with his audacious 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."

And indeed, the fight continued. Following Mahlangu's death, other members of the June 16 Detachment executed a series of attacks throughout the country from 1979-83, including the infamous Silverton Siege of January 1980. Some of them, like Marcus Motaung, were arrested and sentenced to 10-20 years in prison for their crimes.

In 1979, the ANC lauded Mahlangu as a hero of the revolutionary struggle in South Africa and established The Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College (SOMAFCO) with land they had previously acquired in Tanzania. SOFAMCO provided primary and secondary education to students who had fled SA after the Soweto uprising, or children of the existing exiles. Unlike the dreaded Bantu Education system, it taught its students both academic and vocational subjects.

Posthumously, Mahlangu has received several honours, including an eponymous square and statue in Mamelodi, a national Post Office stamp with his image on it, and ‘The Order of Mendi for Bravery’ award in Gold. A poignant biopic about him, titled ‘Kalushi: The Story of Solomon Mahlangu’, was released in 2016.

Though, it is heartbreaking that Solomon Mahlangu was never able to smell his flowers in life, his blood undoubtedly fertilised the liberation of his people, just as he had hoped.