Solomon Mahlangu's family opens inquest as they question how he really died

Did Solomon Mahlangu die by hanging at the hands of the apartheid regime, or was he killed by three bullets?

The official version says the  Umkhonto we Sizwe operative was executed by hanging on April 6 1979, but his family on Wednesday said they had doubts and wanted to know the truth.

On the 43rd anniversary of his demise, on Wednesday, the family has opened an inquest into the 23-year-old's death. 

ANC leaders, including the co-ordinator in the secretary-general's office, Gwen Ramokgopa, spokesperson Pule Mabe and interim ANC Youth League leader Nonceba Mhlauli accompanied the family to open a case at Mamelodi West police station in the east of Pretoria.

“The Mahlangu family has reservations regarding the death of the struggle icon and opening an inquest would be the best way of giving them piece of mind,” said Mhlauli. “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.”

She explained that there were two versions on his death. “One is the official story that he was hanged and another version from the family is that he was finished off by three bullets,” Mhlauli said. 

The family had apparently  always had questions on the circumstances surrounding his execution. These questions, they said, they have harboured since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission almost 30 years ago.

The family want an inquest similar to the one into the death of  Ahmed Timol, an anti-apartheid activist in the underground structures of the SACP. An inquest in 2017 overturned a finding that Timol died by suicide, jumping  out of a window while being detained at John Vorster Square in 1971. In 2018, an inquest found that Timol did not kill himself  but had been murdered by apartheid police.

TimesLIVE

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.