{{Short description|South African activist & poet}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} ''' Benjamin Johnson Langa''' OLG was a South African activist, poet, and brother of Pius Langa, Bheki Langa, and Mandla Langa. Ben was assassinated in 1984 as part of the apartheid regime's destabilisation of the ANC; an Mkhonto WeSizwe (MK) commander who was also an apartheid agent instructed two operatives to kill Langa, saying that he had betrayed the movement.<ref>{{Cite web |date=29 January 2021 |title=Benjamin Johnson Langa |url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/benjamin-johnson-langa |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200928060221/https://sahistory.org.za/people/benjamin-johnson-langa |archive-date=28 September 2020 |access-date=29 January 2021 |website=South African History Online}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=27 June 2000 |title=Court Transcript |url=https://www.justice.gov.za/trc/amntrans/2000/200627pi.htm |access-date=29 January 2021 |website=justice.gov.za}}</ref> The operatives were later hanged for murder by the apartheid regime.<ref>{{Cite news |date=27 June 2000 |title=Langa's killing 'ended in triple murder' |url=https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/langas-killing-ended-in-triple-murder-41492 |work=IOL}}</ref> Langa's killing and its aftermath have been used to illustrate the danger of accepting without due process accusations of treachery, and by implication, of organisations which enable or condone this.<ref>{{Cite news |date=22 February 2019 |title=Impimpi accusations are ‘reckless’ |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2019-02-22-00-impimpi-accusations-are-reckless/ |website=Mail & Guardian}}</ref>
Details of the killing are still disputed. There have been hints that former president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, who was MK security chief in Swaziland (now eSwatini), was involved.<ref name="Beresford">{{cite news |last1=Beresford |first1=David |title=Zuma's missing years come to light |url=http://www.thetimes.co.za/PrintEdition/Insight/Article.aspx?id=944076 |access-date=18 December 2022 |work=Times (South Africa) |publisher=AVUSA Inc. |date=22 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090228210121/http://www.thetimes.co.za/PrintEdition/Insight/Article.aspx?id=944076 |archive-date=28 February 2009}}</ref>
== Life and work == Ben Langa's parents lived in Stanger near Durban and later KwaMashu in Durban. They prioritised the education of their seven children, most of whom became politically active. Ben was elected General Secretary of SASO<ref>{{cite web |date=25 February 2022 |orig-date=First produced 30 March 2011 |title=South African Student Organisation (SASO) |url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/south-african-student-organisation-saso |access-date=18 December 2022 |website=South African History Online}}</ref> in 1973 while a student at the University of Fort Hare. He abandoned his studies due to police pressure and became a community activist. He resided in Pietermaritzburg at the time of his death.
== Poetic career == Ben's poetry is difficult to locate nowadays since many ephemeral publications of the 1970s and 80s have not been digitised. One poem, ''For My Brothers in Exile'', is featured in an online educational site.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=For My Brothers In Exile|url=https://live.fundza.mobi/home/library/non-fiction-books/amagama-enkululeko/poem-for-my-brothers-mandla-and-bheki-in-exile-by-ben-j-langa/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210131015303/https://live.fundza.mobi/home/library/non-fiction-books/amagama-enkululeko/poem-for-my-brothers-mandla-and-bheki-in-exile-by-ben-j-langa/|archive-date=31 January 2021|access-date=|website=Fundza.mobi}}</ref> Oral performances were important within the anti-apartheid movement, rooted in the indigenous tradition of izibongo ("praise poems").
== References == {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT: Langa, Ben}} Category:South African activists Category:Year of birth missing Category:1984 deaths Category:Recipients of the Order of Luthuli