Andrew Mlangeni, the last remaining veteran of the Rivonia Trial of 1963/1964, has died. He had been admitted to 1 Military Hospital in Tshwane with an abdominal complaint. The exact cause of death is not clear.
He was born in 1925, and in his younger years became politically active, joining the ANC Youth League in 1952 and the African National Congress proper in 1954. He was a delegate to the Congress of the People in 1955. Later, he went abroad for military training.
At his trial, where he was accused of recruiting and training guerrilla fighters, he said: ‘Though leaders of many countries throughout the world have tried to persuade the Government to abandon its apartheid policy, and although resolutions have been passed in the United Nations against South Africa, this has met with no result. All that the Government has done is to reply to the people’s demands by putting their political leaders in gaol, and breaking up families.’
Sentenced to life imprisonment, he was released in 1989 as moves towards negotiation were being made. In 1994 he was elected to Parliament for the ANC.
On 6 June, he celebrated his 95th birthday. A cavalcade of cars passed his home in Soweto, each pausing briefly to wish him well and drop off a gift.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said in response to his death: ‘Bab’ Mlangeni’s dramatic life was a unique example of heroism and humility inhabiting the same person and throughout his long life he remained a beacon of ethical leadership and care for humanity in our own country and around the globe. With his passing as the last remaining Rivonia Trialist, Bab’ Mlangeni has indeed passed the baton to his compatriots to build the South Africa he fought to liberate and to reconstruct during our democratic dispensation.’
The passing of various prominent figures of the liberation movement over the past decade has prompted reflection on the aspirations they had for the country, their personal attributes and sacrifices and how the country’s recent and current leadership measures up in comparison.
Image: GCIS via Flickr