Malesella Benjamin Moloise was born in 1955 in Alexandra. he was a black upholsterer and poet. He was executed by apartheid government on 18 October 1985 at Pretoria Central Prison for his supposed role in the 1982 murder of a black security policeman. However, the African National Congress claimed responsibility for the murder and repudiated the claim that Moloise was involved. The US and the Soviet Union warned the apartheid government against the execution, but the government still decided to go ahead with it. The execution aroused anger in the townships which escalated violence. This spiralled out of control and subsequently reached areas like the Johannesburg CBD which had previously remained sheltered from it.
