Student activist accused of fake kidnap stunt‚ Vusi Mahlangu‚ pops up at Union Buildings

Controversial #FeesMustFall and #OutsourcingMustFall activist Vusi Mahlangu donned a Marikana-style green throw to attend Thursday's student march to the Union Buildings in Pretoria.

The controversial activist hogged headlines in April when he was arrested for allegedly faking his own kidnapping.

Looking a bit trimmer without his popular dreadlocks‚ Mahlangu addressed hundreds of students who gathered at the Union Buildings.

Asserting that police have arrested 500 Fees Must Fall students‚ he said: "The third force element is this government itself. The message is going to be very clear‚ we want the release of all 500 students now. We will not back down on our demand for free education now. We are not backing down on our demand for full insourcing of all workers."

The symbolism of the green blanket in the public consciousness stems from the Marikana miner Mgcineni Noki‚ "the man in the green blanket". The Farlam commission painted a picture of him as an aggressive leader of a violent group of striking miners. He was often in negotiations between the police‚ union leaders and the miners and was amongst the strikers killed when police opened fire.

In a recent Facebook post shared on his timeline‚ Mahlangu is spotted in a group performing an African traditional ritual by burning incense (impepho) - a ritual normally done to invite ancestors to intervene in difficult situations or to celebrate.

Friends of the Pan Africanist Student Movement of Azania leader commented he was inviting the ancestors in the fight for free education.

Mahlangu responded to them‚ saying: "All people who are evoking my ultra atheist stance in this post for whatever reason are just hopelessly beyond redemption. The art is called agitation‚ propaganda and inciting."

Mahlangu had laid low following the April incident in the Eastern Cape‚ when he alleged that he was kidnapped and assaulted while on his way to attend a workers’ meeting at Walter Sisulu University.

WhatsApp messages were sent from Mahlangu's phone to a WSU worker telling him to open a case of kidnapping with police. The messages stated ". . . it's dark here . . . I can’t see . . . please open a case of potential kidnapping" and "I am bleeding. I am not at police station . . . is too dark here . . . my phone's battery will die soon".

A missing persons case was opened at the Mthatha Police Station and police efforts to locate him and bring him to safety ensued. However‚ he was later charged with perjury and defeating the ends of justice when police said their investigation showed he had lied about the incident.

Mahlangu is a colourful character in the fees must fall movement‚ and clearly not shy of a camera. A photo posted on his Facebook timeline in December 2014 shows him with a bandage on his head and three bottles of alcohol. Questioned about it‚ he states the photo is fifteen years old.