The ANC’s Nkosi Bhambatha region held a memorial lecture on April 6 to commemorate the death, 42 years ago, of Solomon Mahangu. At 22, Mahangu was the youngest person in the country to have been hanged for politically-related reasons.

Delegates gathered in the Moth Hall to listen to speeches and sing songs to commemorate this struggle hero. Mahlangu was born in Pretoria on July 10, 1956, and attended Mamelodi High School up until Grade 10 when the school closed due to ongoing riots.

He joined the ANC in September 1976 and left the country to train as an Umkhonto we Sizwe soldier. He returned a year later with Lucky Mahlangu (no relation) and Johannes Motloung to deliver weapons to ANC operatives in the country. They were spotted in Goch Street in Johannesburg by police and a gun battle ensued. Two people were killed and three civilians injured.    

Mayor Mdluli gives an address at the Solomon Mahlangu lecture in the Moth Hall.

In the chaos, Lucky escaped, while Motloung and Solomon were arrested. They were charged with murder and treason under the Terrorism Act. Motloung suffered a brain injury during interrogation and was declared unfit for trial. Mahlangu was convicted on the Common Purpose Doctrine and sentenced to death by hanging on March 1978. He was executed on April 6, 1979. Out of fear of crowd violence at his funeral, he was buried in secret in Atteridgeville.

His remains were exhumed in 1993 and reburied in his hometown of Mamelodi on April 6 – the date of his death 14 years earlier. The family have said that they would like the case to be re-opened “so that all the information that is at our disposal can come out”.  

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