Solomon Mahlangu
Birth date:
July 10, 1956
Death date:
April 6, 1979
Age at Death:
22
About
Solomon Mahlangu was born July 7th 1965 in Pretoria. He had an older brother and was raised by his mother, who was a domestic worker. He went to school up until his 10th year of school but the rise of riots caused the closing of schools. He joined the African National Congress and left the country to be trained as a solider in Angola and Mozambique.
Solomon and two other men were taken to Swaziland. Here they were given a suitcase, which was filled with grenades, rifles and pamphlets, making their way to Johannesburg to help protests. They made it to Johannesburg and were getting in a taxi when approached by a police officer. The police officer grabbed the suitcase resulting in the contents falling out which included an ak-17 and grenades. He and one of the other man fled in the same direction and ended up in a gun battle with police, which ended up in two civilians being killed and one wounded. Solomon and the other man were arrested and were tried. He was tried and was charged with two accounts of murder and and many charges under the Terrorism Act, he pled not guilty. Solomon suffered severe brain damage from being beat during his capture, which made him him inadequate to be tried. He was found guilty and was sentenced to death by being hung. He tried to appeal his sentence but was denied by the Rand Supreme Court and in the Bloemfontein Appeal Court. Many governments, groups and international groups tried to interfere on his behalf. He died April 6th, 1979.
Was justice served?
Justice was not served, no police officer was convicted of anything. The government handed the case unfairly and Solomon died at the hands of an unfair system. As of April 1979 justice has not been served.