Anti-apartheid activist Solomon Mahlangu was just 23 years old when he was hanged in the gallows of Pretoria Central Prison. His remains were moved to his birthplace of Mamelodi in 1993, after being buried in Atteridgeville for 24 years.
This monument was unveiled in his birthplace in 2005, 26 years after his execution after being wrongfully accused of murder and terrorism. Mahlangu joined the African National Congress in September 1976. He trained as an MK soldier in Angola and Mozambique before returning to South Africa in 1977 to assist with student protests.
The bronze statue was created using the lost wax process, by sculptor Angus Taylor. It depicts, Mahlangu, approximately twice life-size, in uMkhonto we Sizwe uniform, with laced boots, a beret under his left epaulette and ‘standing at ease’ with his legs slightly apart. (uMkhonto we Sizwe was the paramilitary wing of the African National Congress, founded by Nelson Mandela in the wake of the Sharpeville massacre.) His left hand is at rest behind his back; the forearm of the right arm extends outwards with his palm facing upwards and supporting a sphere or ‘world of opportunity’. The bronze statue stands on a thin slab of polished black granite through which it is fixed into the concrete sub-structure of the plinth below.
A broad projecting plaster band accommodates bold bronze letters, in a plain font, spelling out the name: “Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu”. The oval plinth resembles the trunk of a substantial tree. The sculptor said he took inspiration from Mahlangu’s last words ‘My blood will nourish the tree that will bear the fruits of freedom’.
