'Kalushi': the film about a life in a dark era of hatred

Director Mandla Dube says his film on the death of Solomon Mahlangu is about devotion, writes Tymon Smith

For many South Africans growing up in the 1980s, the name Solomon "Kalushi" Mahlangu was probably one they heard listed on the honour roll of struggle heroes.

It belonged to a young steely-eyed black man whose image appeared on the T-shirts of protesters and ANC supporters, or on banners and posters glimpsed on TV news reports of growing resistance to the state.

For my part, I knew that Mahlangu had been hanged by the apartheid government but I didn't know much more than that. The National Party government did all in its power to suppress news about the black liberation movements.

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Now the story of Mahlangu comes back into the South African consciousness for a new generation and those like me who never knew the details, thanks to Kalushi, a feature film directed by Mandla Dube that went on general release this week.

Dube developed his filmmaking skills in the '80s and '90s in the US, first as an intern at CNN World Report and later as a cinematographer on music videos by hip-hop luminaries such as Biggie Smalls, Da Brat and Outkast.

He returned to South Africa early in the 2000s to develop a series of projects based on South African history which he titled The Legends of History — the stories of the Rivonia Trial, Solomon Mahlangu and the Silverton Siege Trio.

In collaboration with the State Theatre he produced stage productions of the Rivonia Trial and Mahlangu stories before deciding to take Mahlangu's story to the screen.

He was driven by the apathy about history that he saw among the students he taught at the University of the Witwatersrand, whose attitude he describes as: "That happened, that's the past, we're living in the present now."

Dube initially began to develop Kalushi as a four-part TV series seven years ago. He and his writing partner, Teddy Mattera, would go away for weeks and "just sit and write", he said.

"We got to the point where we had three drafts of the series. Through this process I was talking to Teddy about directing the series, but he felt the story was too heavy.

"I approached other directors but everyone felt it didn't resonate with them and it was too difficult to raise the money.

"One day Teddy said that the reason I couldn't get anyone to respond to the story was because it was a story that I should direct.

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"I started connecting the dots and said: 'I'm going to do this.'"

After arduous research and fundraising, Dube turned the series into a feature, believing that Mahlangu's story "needed a bigger canvas".

With funding and support from the National Lottery, the Department of Arts and Culture and other government institutions, he and screenwriter Leon Otto focused the story on the last years of Mahlangu's life, from 1976 to his execution, at the age of 22, in 1979.

The young Mamelodi resident, a hawker on the trains to Pretoria, became politically active in the wake of the June 1976 uprising and joined the ANC before leaving the country to train as an Umkhonto weSizwe soldier in Angola and Mozambique.

In June 1977 Mahlangu, with his comrades Mondy Johannes Motloung and George "Lucky" Mahlangu, arrived in Johannesburg heavily armed to help fuel the protests.

block_quotes_start My blood will nourish the tree that will bear the fruits of freedom. Tell my people that I love them. They must continue the fight block_quotes_end

They were accosted by a policeman in Goch Street and an AK47 fell out of one their bags.

In the ensuing chase and gun battle Solomon and Motloung entered the nearby John Orr's warehouse where Motloung shot dead two John Orr's employees before the pair were arrested.

At the trial Mahlangu was found guilty of the murders through the principle of common purpose, even though he had not fired the fatal shots. In spite of widespread condemnation and international protest he was hanged in Pretoria on April 6 1979.

His last words are reported to have been: "My blood will nourish the tree that will bear the fruits of freedom. Tell my people that I love them. They must continue the fight."

The words became a slogan and rallying cry for many anti-apartheid fighters and activists.

For Dube, who promised Mahlangu's mother, Martha, shortly before her death three years ago that he would "let the world know that her son did not kill those people", the film is a hero's journey with a central theme of love.

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He sees it as a story of the love of "a mother who loses her child; the story of a young man who loves his country, loves his comrades; a young man who loves his family; who loves his girlfriend; a life that could have been".

Starring Thabo Rametsi as Mahlangu, Pearl Thusi in the role of his fictional girlfriend Brenda and Gcina Mhlophe as his mother, the film debuted last year at the RapidLion film festival in Johannesburg where it won the best film award.

Since then it has travelled to Cannes, London, Stockholm and various other festivals.

Now, as it goes on general release, Dube hopes that audiences will learn the full story of Mahlangu and see that "love is painful and real".

He said: "And if you're not free, go and find out what makes you happy and go for it. For young people — don't wait there and expect politicians to come and find you ... go out and create your own form of work."

As for the apathy with which Wits students previously regarded history — during the #FeesMustFall campaign protesters contacted Dube because they wanted to ask Mahlangu's family about renaming the Wits Great Hall. When they asked if they could screen his film, Dube replied: "Absolutely!"

• 'Kalushi' is in cinemas across the country