( Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu (10 July 1956 – 6 April 1979) was a South African operative of the African National Congress (ANC) military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK). He was convicted of murder by the brutal Apartheid regime. He was executed by hanging in 1979 )


You were the tip of the spear, the pointed tip of Umkhonto-we-Sizwe, 

"The Spear of the Nation".


You held true to your principles,

your values in your struggle against Apartheid racial discrimination and savagery.


The state feared you, and so many like you.


They feared the blazing tip of the spear that would fracture their arrogant, hollow ideology.


You, Comrade Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu, were 23 years of age,


yet decades ahead, a beacon to the indomitable spirit of the revolutionary that you were.


The grotesque Apartheid regime executed you, at 23 years of age.


They could not silence your final words -


"My blood will nourish the tree that will bear the fruits of freedom.

Tell my people that I love them.

They must continue the fight".



Your paid the ultimate price.


You made the ultimate sacrifice,

so that we who breathe the air of freedom may today and always salute you,

a true martyr to the cause of humanity and dignity and free from the shackles of racism and racial supremacy.

You were a beacon of resistance.

You remain a shining light that shall forever guide us even in the deepest night.


They executed you,

yet they could not,

they cannot,

they will never quell the fire of revolution.

The fire that you held in your heart,

the fire that shall always shine true.


Hamba Kahle*, Comrade!

Amandla! ngAwethu*

Matla ke a Rona!*

The struggles continue!

          _________


* - "Hamba Kahle" is an isiZulu and isiXhosa saying that means "farewell", and was rallying cry in the struggle against Apartheid, when it was put to song and sung at funerals of the martyrs who laid down their lives for the cause of freedom, justice, equality, democracy, and dignity for all.


* - "Amandla ngAwethu" means power to the people, and was also a rallying cry in the struggle against Apartheid.


* - "Matla ke a Rona"  was a revolutionary slogan that means "Victory is Certain"
 

Afzal Moolla was born in Delhi, India while his parents were in exile, working as political exiles against Apartheid in South Africa. He then travelled wherever his parent’s work took them, spending time in Egypt, Finland, and Iran. Afzal works and lives in Johannesburg, South Africa.

This piece was first published on Afzal Moolla's personal blog.