DURBAN - THE apartheid regime did not kill Solomon Mahlangu because his spirit continued to live on, ANC senior official Dr Gwen Ramokgopa said yesterday.
The party’s co-ordinator in the secretary-general’s office was addressing the audience during an event to commemorate the 43rd anniversary of Mahlangu’s death.
The commemoration included a wreath-laying ceremony at Mahlangu’s final resting place at Mamelodi West Cemetery and retracing the 52 steps that led to the gallows at Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre in Pretoria, where Mahlangu was hanged.
The ANC Youth League and the Young Communist League said that an inquest should be opened into Mahlangu’s death.
The Umkhonto we Sizwe operative died on April 6, 1979, at the age of 22. He had been convicted of murder and terrorism during the apartheid era.
Ramakgopa said she endorsed the idea of reopening the inquest.
“It was heartening that the event was organised by the youth, and with the support of Mahlangu’s family they went to the police station to demand that an inquest be opened.
“This is important because we are told that he was also shot after being hanged just to make sure that he was dead. So we must demand an inquest so that the family finds closure.”
Imtiaz Cajee, the nephew of Struggle activist Ahmed Timol, said that to truly honour Mahlangu, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) must prioritise going after apartheid-era killers. Cajee, said that those directly involved in the deaths of anti-apartheid activists must take responsibility, come clean and make “honest confessions and show remorse for what they have done”.
“FW de Klerk and police generals were complicit. Those who carried out the murders were police officers who had the endorsement of politicians at the top of the line.
“All of this happened under these politicians’ watch,” Cajee said.
Sibongile Mthembu, one of the leaders of the historic 1976 uprisings, said holding people to account for apartheid-era murders was crucial for reconciliation.
“You can never have reconciliation in a vacuum … the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) gave a great deal of hope, but that report, like so many, was left to gather dust and its recommendations were not implemented, which was disrespectful to the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu up until his passing,” Mthembu said.
She said the lack of political will from the ANC and the government was an ongoing concern. In KwaZulu-Natal, calls have been made for inquests to be reopened into two high-profile apartheid-era matters.
Nobel Peace Prize winner and former ANC president Inkosi Albert Luthuli’s family believe he was assassinated, and are looking for proof that he was not killed by a train, which was given as the cause of his death in an autopsy report presented in 1967.
The Foundation for Human Rights and the son of the late Bayempini Mzizi have made joint representations to reopen the inquest into Mzizi’s death.
Mzizi, a traditional healer, was arrested on July 9, 1977, on suspicion of terrorism and was detained for more than 35 days.
He was brutally tortured, and on August 13, 1977, was found hanging in his cell at Brighton Beach police station in Durban.
An inquest at the time found that he had committed suicide.
NPA spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga said that since September last year, a separate portfolio to deal specifically with the TRC and related matters was established within the office of the Deputy National Director of Public Prosecutions, Advocate RJ de Kock.
“In addition, 14 additional dedicated TRC prosecutors were appointed to deal with TRC matters. Investigative capacity within the Directorate of Priority Crimes (Hawks) investigative unit was also increased to investigate TRC matters. As a result, steady progress is noted within the divisions in all matters, not only inquests.”
Mhaga said some of the matters were at an advanced stage of investigation.