Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu – the Legend of Freedom!

Stamp issue date: 15 October 2009
Stamp size: 28.88 x 38 mm
Miniature sheet size: 105 x 65 mm
Paper: Sopal Satimat 110 gsm offset coated stamp paper
Gum: PVA gum
Quantity printed: 50 000 miniature sheets
Colour: CMYK
Phosphor: 4 mm on top and right of stamp.
Printing process: Offset Lithography
Printed by: Joh. Enschedé Stamps B.V., The Netherlands

ACT ONE
Early childhood

SCENE ONE

INT. EARLY MORNING. DOORNKOP Mpumalanga
We are in the small town of Middelburg in what was then known as the Eastern Transvaal (now Mpumalanga) at the Mahlangu homestead. It is 10 July 1956 and Ms Martha Mahlangu has given birth to a baby boy, Solomon. He is the fourth child of six siblings. Soon the family moves from rural Middelburg area to Mamelodi outside Pretoria. Here he attends Ndima Lower Primary School and later Mamelodi High School.

SCENE TWO
According to his friends in higher primary, Solomon attended school with a corrugated iron suitcase with the words “EXPLOSIVE” written on it. This gives some insight into the young boy’s character of a revolutionary spirit.

SCENE THREE
In May 1969, when he was 13 years old, Solomon, under the care of his brother Chief Lucas Mahlangu, goes to initiation academy in accordance with amaNdebele tradition. For a period of four months he spends time in the mountains where he is given the name “Kalushi” for show of bravery,

ACT TWO
Post-1976 Uprising

SCENE FOUR
A teenaged Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu (SKM) begins to hustle as a hawker in the trains to earn some pocket money. It is during this period that SKM would become conscious of the inequalities that face Africans in the then apartheid South Africa. As a hawker he encounters the brutality of the apartheid regime police system prompting him to seek a voice. He becomes exposed to literature from the Black People’s Convention and in particular Steven Bantu Biko’s philosophy of Black Consciousness. Soon after this exposure, South Africa experienced the 16 June student uprisings, an event that more than any other brought young people to the centre stage of struggle. It is a day that shaped and changed the life of Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu.

SCENE FIVE

Up to 16 June, Solomon’s only knowledge of the struggle against apartheid was what he and his friends heard on Radio Free Africa, which was broadcast by the ANC from Lusaka, Zambia. Mahlangu left the country in 1976 after the 16 June Student Uprising against the use of Afrikaans as the formal language of education. His entry into exile via Maputo led him to join Umkonto We Sizwe, the military wing of the ANC, under the leadership of General Siphiwe Nyanda.
Solomon was among the first group of youth from the 16 June detachment to undergo military training in Tanzania and Angola. A trio made up of Solomon, Monty Motloung and George Lucky Mahlangu re-entered South Africa in June 1977 to mark the first anniversary of the 16 June 1976 Student Uprising. General Nyanda planned the mission with four other commanders of the Transvaal Urban Machinery (TUM) under the political guidance of Joe Slovo, Joe Modise and Moses Mbeki Mabhida.

According to Nyanda, the cadres “knew from the underground work they had been trained in, how important discipline was for missions to be successful.” Solomon, who led the mission, was a quiet, unassuming, disciplined young man. Monty, Solomon and Lucky made it as far as the Johannesburg city centre. While in a taxi in Diagonal Street en route to Soweto a policeman on patrol confronted them demanding to see what they were carrying. A scuffle took place and an AK-47 fell out. A police chase started and they ran towards Goch Street. A gun battle ensued and Lucky retreated to their home base in Dduduza. The police caught Monty and Solomon. Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu was charged with murder in a trial that lasted 13 months.

ACT THREE
Trial and execution

SCENE SIX

INT. COURTROOM.DAY.
Adv. Ismail Ayob’s, whose law office was situated diagonally across John Orr’s warehouse in Goch Street, was the first legal representative on the scene. Ayob, with Priscilla Jana, subsequently defended Mahlangu in court. He was eventually sentenced to death for murder.

SCENE SEVEN
Mma Mahlangu, Mahlangu’s mother, tried to see the then Minister of Justice Jimmy Kruger who gave her the runaround. The United Nations Security Council appealed for Mahlangu’s life, as did the president of the United States, Jimmy Carter, the Organization of African Unity, European governments and the Anti-apartheid Movement. But all was in vain.

SCENE EIGHT
On the way to the gallows Mahlangu would leave us with these lasting words, ”My blood will nourish the tree that will bear the fruits of freedom. Tell my people that I love them and that they must keep fighting. Amandla!” These words are symbolised in the stamp artwork where the artist shows Mahlangu’s neck intertwining with the tree he referred to in his last words.

Solomon Kalushi Mahlanagu was executed on April 6th 1979.

In celebrating our heritage on 25 and 26 September, the South African Post Office, the City of Tshwane and the African Heritage Channel will launch the Tshwane Heritage Arts Film Festival at the Pretoria Arts Museum. The aim is to encourage youth to use art in expressing themselves and preserving their heritage. For more information call 012 344 1809 or email mandla@africanheritagechannel.co.za.
THE END