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Unique heroes reception for Pretoria’s Paralympic hero

A big surprise awaited Pretoria's Paralympic hero and double gold medallist in Tokyo when he arrived at the Oliver Thambo Airport with the first group of South Africans earlier today.

September 6, 2021
Rekord Pretoria 1 minute read

Pretoria’s blade runner and Paralympic hero, Ntando Mahlangu, received a huge surprise-welcome at the Oliver Thambo airport when he returned with the first group of South African athletes and officials from the Paralympic Games in Tokyo earlier today.

Not only did about 75 matriculants from Mahlangu’s school, Afrikaans Hoër Seunskool (Affies), along with some teachers await him at the airport’s arrival gate, but he received a further surprise when family and friends from his home town in Kwa Mhlanga north east of Pretoria also showed up for the welcoming event.

The people of Tweefontein in Kwa-Mhlanga arrived at the airport in traditional Ndebele costumes to welcome this folk hero from their ranks. Part of this group from Kwa-Mhlanga were Mahlangu’s grandmother, Paulina and other family members.

Mahlangu’s fellow Affies students sang the famous South African song “Shosaloza” and the national anthem for him, after which one of the school’s “sports spirit” songs, named “Power of Affies” echoed across the airport building.

For the latter song, Mahlangu spontaneously joined his schoolmates and sang along.

Mahlangu told the media that he approached this year’s Paralympic Games very differently from the previous time in 2016, when he also took part in Rio as a 14-year-old boy.

He acknowledged that he had participated with a greater patriotic attitude to bring hope to all South Africans and making them proud of their country.

“This time it was not about me, but about my country and countrymen,” he said as he proudly displayed the two gold medals around his neck.

Social media also buzzed as Mahlangu was hailed from everywhere after his achievements in Tokyo.

One of the people who praised him was the cricket star, AB de Villiers, who is also a former Affies pupil.

In his tweet, De Villiers referred to the Affies fraternity and brotherhood following Mahlangu’s school friends’ actions.  

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At Caxton, every story is written by humans. We use AI only to perform quality checks - never to generate the news. Happy reading!
September 6, 2021
Rekord Pretoria 1 minute read

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Koos Venter

Koos Venter is an experienced journalist who started his career 35 years ago, before the days of cellphones, modern computer systems, the internet and digital cameras, as a correspondent for Nexus, the former national magazine of the Department of Correctional Services. He has since worked for various other publications in all aspects of news coverage, as a columnist and in the production side of newspapers and online publications. Since 2007 he has specialized as a sports writer, while he is also regularly used as an analyst and commentator by several radio stations.
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