Africa-Press – South-Africa. The family of struggle icon Solomon Mahlangu and the ANC on Wednesday opened a case at the Mamelodi West police station to ascertain the facts relating to his death.
Despite the official cause being death by hanging, the Mahlangu family believes there might be more to the story.
During the 43rd commemoration of his death at the Mamelodi West Cemetery, where his grave is located, family members and the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) said there were varying versions of Mahlangu’s death.
ANC Youth Task Team convener Nonceba Mhlauli said: “The Mahlangu family has reservations regarding the death of the struggle icon, and opening an inquest would be the best way of giving them peace of mind.
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“It is the family that wanted to open the case, and the ANC Youth League is here to support them. We want our history to be captured right, and part of that means knowing how Mahlangu died.
“There are two versions of how he died; one is the official story that he was hanged and another version from the family that he was finished off by three bullets,” added Mhlauli.
Mahlangu’s nephew, Gideon Mahlangu, said the “history of this country needs to be captured correctly, and this has not been done with Solomon Mahlangu”.
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“This inquest needs to be done so that we can get closure.”
He added it was through an inquest that Ahmed Timol’s family got the closure it needed, and “the family also believes that we could get closure from this endeavour”.
Arrested
After received military training, Mahlangu and two other MK soldiers, Monty Motloung and George Mahlangu, were arrested while returning from Mozambique.
His trial started in November 1977, and he faced two counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder, and various counts under the Terrorism Act.
In its judgment, the court found Mahlangu and Motloung had acted with a common purpose and it consequently did not matter which of the two had done the shooting and killing.
Mahlangu was convicted on all counts and sentenced to death.
He was hanged in 1979.
The ANCYL lamented the fact Mahlangu’s home in Mamelodi had not been turned into a heritage site years after making the request to the Department of Arts and Culture.
Mhlauli said she would work tirelessly to ensure that when the family celebrated the 44th anniversary of the death of the struggle icon, his home would have been given heritage status.
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