With our correspondent in Johannesburg, Claire Bargelès

It is a page of the country's history that is turning, since Andrew Mlangeni was the last surviving defendant of the Rivonia Trial. A trial in which he was "accused number 10" for the magistrates. Alongside Ahmed Kathrada, Walter Sisulu, and of course Nelson Mandela, Andrew Mlangeni was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964 for treason and sabotage.

He had just returned from China, where he had received military training, and had launched himself in South Africa in recruiting new members for the armed wing of the ANC. Arrested with his comrades-in-arms on a farm on the outskirts of Rivonia, he was sent to Robben Island, where he would be Mandela's cell neighbor. He would remain imprisoned on the island for 26 years.

With the advent of democracy, Andrew Mlangeni ultimately remained quite discreet on the political scene. He described himself as "a man behind the scenes", more at ease in the underground world of resistance than under the spotlight, and contented himself with a position as an ANC deputy. He would not hesitate, later, to denounce the excesses and corruption of his own party under the presidency of Jacob Zuma.

The end of a generation

Since the announcement of his death on Wednesday morning, tributes have been pouring in. The ANC recognizes him as "one of its most remarkable fighters" who "believed that the freedom of the people was more important than his own life". For President Cyril Ramaphosa, the news "marks the end of a generation and places our future in our hands".

Andrew Mlangeni's death follows the passing, earlier in the year, of Denis Goldberg, another co-accused of Rivonia. According to Nobel Peace Prize recipient Desmond Tutu, "it is now up to the younger ones to take up the torch they held and complete the journey".

And Andrew Mlangeni walked the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival in 2018, on the occasion of the release of the documentary "The State Against Mandela and the Others " by Nicolas Champeaux and Gilles Porte.