Jacob Zuma has suggested he may seek a meeting with Cyril Ramaphosa to address tensions over the legacy of struggle icon Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu.
Zuma, now leader of the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party, was speaking on Freedom Day in Mamelodi, east of Pretoria, during the second Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu Memorial Lecture.
His remarks come amid reported threats from a section of ANC supporters opposing the hosting of the memorial in honour of Mahlangu.
Addressing supporters, Zuma argued that struggle stalwarts should not be claimed by any single political party.
“It cannot be that we trained this soldier, sent him home to fight, and when he is captured, we say he belongs to the ANC,” Zuma said.
He insisted that those who were part of the liberation struggle had a shared history and responsibility to honour its heroes.
“If we must engage the ANC on this matter, then we must. We cannot train him and then forget him because we are now uMkhonto weSizwe,” he added, drawing applause from the crowd.
Zuma criticised what he described as attempts to exclude the MK Party from commemorating Mahlangu.
“People who did nothing now claim him as their own. They have no right to tell us that uMkhonto weSizwe cannot honour its hero,” he said.
“We cannot be oppressed by oppressors and then oppress each other.”
He further hinted at the possibility of direct engagement with Ramaphosa.
“We may have to meet and discuss this, to say: do you hear what is being said?” Zuma noted.
Reflecting on Mahlangu’s role in the armed struggle, Zuma said he personally knew and worked with him during their time in exile, including in Mozambique, where cadres were trained before being deployed back into South Africa.
“We trained this soldier, we worked with him, and we sent him home to fight. He told us he was ready,” Zuma said.
“Many wanted to return home to fight, but we had to assess their readiness. Some we stopped. But Mahlangu was ready.”
Zuma described Mahlangu as exceptionally brave, particularly in the face of arrest and execution.
“Very few people can show that kind of courage when facing death,” he said. “He was not afraid.”
Mahlangu, an operative of uMkhonto weSizwe, was sentenced to death and executed by the apartheid government in 1979 at the age of 23. His final words that his blood would nourish the tree that will bear the fruits of freedom have become a defining symbol of resistance.
Despite his expulsion from the African National Congress in November 2024 after forming the MK Party, Zuma reiterated his long-standing claim that he still considers himself a member of the ANC.
