Mlangeni, the last remaining co-defendant sentenced alongside Nelson Mandela in the Rivonia Trial, has died.

South African anti-apartheid icon Andrew Mlangeni, the last remaining co-defendant of the historic Rivonia Trial that sentenced activists including Nelson Mandela to life imprisonment, has died at the age of 95.

Who was Andrew Mlangeni?

Mlangeni was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1963 for his role in the liberation struggle against the white minority government that imposed the oppressive and racist system of apartheid. 

He spent 26 years in prison, mostly on Robben Island alongside Mandela, Dennis Goldberg, Walter Sisulu and other activists who were sentenced for planning to overthrow the apartheid government.

After his release, Mlangeni served as a legislator in South Africa’s first democratic Parliament from 1994.

End of an era for South Africa

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa paid tribute to Mlangeni, saying his death signified “the end of a generational history”.

“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,” Ramaphosa said.

The foundation of former South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his wife, Leah, said in a statement: “[Mlangeni’s] passing sounds the last post on a courageous generation of South Africans who forfeited their freedom, careers, family lives and health so that we could all be free.”

They also recalled Mlangeni’s comment: “I did not go to prison for 26 years for people to steal from the poor.”

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