Judge Motsamai Makume’s long-awaited judgment at the reopened inquest into the 1982 death of the anti-apartheid activist places blame squarely at the feet of the security police.
Death in apartheid detention: Verdict eagerly awaited a dailymaverick.co.za - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dailymaverick.co.za Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
What would our martyrs say if they could see us now?
By Saths Cooper
April 6 – celebrated during the apartheid era from 1952-1994 as Founders Day (
Stigtingsdag) in recognition of Jan van Riebeeck’s landing in Table Bay and the subsequent Dutch settlement in Cape Town – is also the day on which the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) was founded, in 1959, after breaking away from the ANC.
Cynically, the apartheid regime hanged the 22-year-old Solomon Mahlangu at Pretoria Prison on that fateful day in 1979, after he was denied any appeal that focused on his not having killed anyone.
Like our numerous holidays, both official and unofficial, we have not been short of martyrs to remember since the advent of democracy after our historic general election of April 27, 1994.