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Solomon Mahlangu remembered 40 years after hanging

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African National Congress (ANC) Secretary General Ace Magashule, Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa and Deputy Justice and Correctional Services Minister Thabang Makwetla have joined Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu’s family to tour the Gallows Museum at Kgosi Mampohuru II in Pretoria.

Saturday marks the 40th anniversary of the former ANC military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe cadre who was hanged.

A total of 3 500 people were executed at the centre between 1902 and the early 1990s when the death penalty and capital punishment was finally abolished.

National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) executive Sifiso Mtsweni has called on the government to turn apartheid hubs into historical learning centres.

“Apartheid was a brutal system as you see there is 3500 who were just hanged in here. And young people need to know about this because if we going build a patriotic society, if we going to build a society that is united, we need to tell our history in its original form. So there are two things that we say (1) This particular centre must be opened to the public. Secondly, Robben Island must be accessible to the people of South Africa. It cannot be a centre where people from international countries would just come here and be able to go to Robben Island when young people of this country cannot access our history,” says Mtsweni.

The NYDA says it’s important for young South Africans to know the role their fellow youth played in the struggle for liberation.

Meanwhile, the Solomon Mahlangu home in Mamelodi, east of Pretoria will soon be a tourist destination. The National Heritage Council has announced that the house has been given a category one status to be a heritage site.

 

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