On 6 April the South African authorities executed Solomon Mahlangu, the ANC militant sentenced to death by the Supreme Court for his part in the shooting of two men in central Johannesburg in June 1977. Mahlangu was hanged at 6 a.m. at Pretoria Central Prison, together with four criminal prisoners convicted of murder.
The execution took place despite world-wide appeals, including ones from the UN Security Council and US President Carter. Requests for clemency were also made by the governments of West and East Germany, France, Denmark, Britain, Netherlands, Belgium, India, Cyprus and Tunisia.
In his telegram to President Vorster and Prime Minister Botha, President Carter urged them to reconsider the decision and spare Mahlangu's life, saying that 'clemency in this case would be well received by many governments'. Following the execution, the South African government issued a statement saying it had 'learned with disfavour of the position taken by a number of Western governments on the case of Solomon Mahlangu,' identifying in particular Britain, West Germany and the Netherlands, whose 'selective indignation directed against SA is shocking and repugnant'.
During the night of the execution, a vigil was held at the Mahlangu home in Mamelodi, Pretoria, and the crowd then gathered at Mamelodi cemetery until told that the body would not be delivered. The family had already attended a brief funeral service in the prison, after which the body was secretly buried by prison officials in Atteridgeville. A week later a grave number was issued to the family.
A memorial service was held in Soweto on Sunday 8 April attended by over 2000 people and addressed by Dr. Nthatho Motlana and Mr. Curtis Nkondo, among others. Four Indian mourners were arrested for entering Soweto without permits; they were Mrs. Priscilla Jana, the lawyer who represented Mrs. Mahlangu, her engineer husband Mr. R. Jana, Dr. J. Variava and Dr. A.B. Asvat. They were each fined R25.
A memorial ceremony to be held in Atteridgeville cemetery the following Saturday was disrupted by police who ordered out the relatives and then fired tear gas into the crowd. Later, meeting at the Mahlangu home for the customary funeral gathering, the crowd was again ordered to leave by the police. An official statement said tear gas had been used to break up an 'illegal gathering' being held 'in defiance of a ban on all meetings', although the Prisons Department said there was no bar on family and members of the public visiting the grave.
Mahlangu's final message to his mother on her last visit was "My blood will nourish the tree which will bear the fruits of freedom. Tell my people that I love them and that they must continue the struggle. Do not worry about me but about those who are suffering". According to the priest who was present, Mahlangu walked bravely to the gallows, his arm raised in an ANC salute.
His mother expressed her thanks to those who had campaigned against the execution saying "We cannot adequately express our gratitude for your concern. We conveyed to Solomon before he died your brave attempts and he asked us to convey to you his gratitude - Martha Mahlangu".
Protest meetings were held in many parts of the world on the night of the execution, in support of Mahlangu and the ANC.
