Johannesburg – The SA Communist Party on Friday pledged its full support for the family of Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu’s application to stop the Economic Freedom Fighters “gathering and propagating their shenanigans in the name of their son”.
“Comrade Solomon Mahlangu was a stalwart of our struggle for national liberation, member of the African National Congress, and uMkhonto we Sizwe combatant,” the SACP said in a statement.
“He had no relationship whatsoever and nothing to do with the EFF. Above all, the rights of his family on matters involving his name must be respected.
“Consistent with its DNA of disrespect, the EFF refused to accord the Mahlangu family the respect it deserves and undermined the family and its authority on matters involving his name,” the SACP said.
“The North Gauteng High Court today [Friday] interdicted the EFF in terms of the urgent relief sought by the Mahlangu family. The court later rescinded the decision, based on technical grounds and not the substance of the matter.
“The family is back at the court now to press ahead with the interdict having fulfilled the requirements of the technical points that resulted in the court withdrawing the interdict it had earlier granted.
“The SACP is calling on our alliance partners and other formations of our broader democratic movement to close ranks and unite behind the Mahlangu family,” the SACP said.
Earlier on Friday, the High Court in Pretoria dismissed the Solomon Mahlangu Family Trust’s application to stop the EFF using Solomon Mahlangu’s name at their upcoming rally.
The trust, under the instruction of the Mahlangu family and his brother chief Lucas Mahlangu, brought the urgent application to prevent EFF leader Julius Malema and the EFF using the name of the MK operative, who was hanged in 1979, for their “Solomon Mahlangu Memorial Rally” planned for Saturday at the University of Pretoria’s Mamelodi campus.
Malema, who was in the court’s public gallery during the hearing, could not contain his excitement, screaming: “What’s my name man, what’s my name, what am I known for!” upon the judge’s ruling to discharge, with costs, the trust’s application.
A fuming family spokesman, Solomon Mahlangu’s nephew Gideon Mahlangu said the family was angry at the EFF’s intention to use the name in its local government electioneering, because “Kalushi never subscribed to the party’s political ideologies”. Gideon Mahlangu said Malema and his party’s lawyers had threatened the family with court battles earlier this week if the family did not allow them to use Solomon Mahlangu’s name for their rally.
“The EFF is very irrelevant and it will remain irrelevant to commemorate or honour our brother Solomon Mahlangu. He [Solomon] never subscribed to their [EFF] political ideologies. Now that it is an era for local government elections they want to use Solomon Mahlangu’s name as their political tool for election campaign. They actually see the Mahlangu blood as a potential tool to campaign for elections, which is immoral because they disrespect the wishes of his family.
“As a family we have raised this concern with the EFF that they must not use the name of Solomon Mahlangu for their campaigns but they disrespect the wishes of the family and still use the name. We understand that Solomon is a national icon but he is a Mahlangu blood. If his family says EFF must not use his name why is [it that] Julius can’t respect the wishes of the family; this questions his [Julius] upbringing. He is a very disrespectful young man, that is why the ANC expelled him,” said Gideon Mahlangu.
Although the family lost their application to stop the EFF using Solomon Mahlangu’s name, the family would continue to seek legal advice to pursue the matter further. However, as a respectable and “well-mannered” family they would not disrupt the EFF’s event in Mamelodi on Saturday.
African News Agency
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