The ANC established its educational centre in Morogoro, Tanzania on land donated by the Tanzanian government during 1977, facilitated by Tanzanian Anna Abdallah. The land at Mazimbu consisted of some farm buildings on 600 acres. The school was named after Solomon Mahlangu, a member of the ANC's military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) and an exile of the 1976 Soweto uprising. Other names that had been suggested for the school were the Albert Luthuli Institute (after Albert Luthuli) and the ANC Freedom School.
