THE RIVONIA TRIAL

THE IMPRISONMENT OF ANC LEADERSHIP

RIVONIA TRIAL

 Named after suburb in northern Johannesburg, where the

resistance movement had a “safe house”
 The Rivonia Trial, revolves around the arrest of senior
leaders of the ANC and SACP
 Movement had been driven underground since 1960 
Why?
 ANC establishes the  uMkhonto weSizwe (MK)
 Militant arm of ANC, was to coordinate armed resistance

 Nelson Mandela is arrested in August of 1962, could no

longer play key role in organizing of sabotage acts
 Arrested on charges of leaving the country without permission
and inciting strike action
 MK operate without him, led by Walter Sisulu and leading
white communists
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 Liliesleaf Farm, safe house, is raided by special forces in

July 1963 following a tip from an unfriendly neighbor
 Police found members of MK high command, including
Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Raymond Mhlaba, Lionel
Bernstein, Ahmed Kathrada, Arthur Goldreich, and
Denis Goldberg
 They were studying a document titled “Operation
Mayibuye”
 Detailed plan for a revolutionary guerrilla war to be waged by
MK from bases in rural parts of the country
 Eleven defendants, including Nelson Mandela, face
charges of treason
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 Trial begins in October 1963

 Tried under the Sabotage Act of 1962
 Sabotage is a capitol offense
 Chief Prosecutor, Percy Yutar, called for the death penalty to be
applied
 Argued that the accused had endangered human life and that they were
planning to use violence to overthrow the state
 Chief Witness against MK – Bruno Mtolo
 Had Photographic memory

 Became disillusioned with the MK – believed they were working for the
communists, not the ANC
 After arrested for working with MK, decided to tell everything he knew about
the leadership.
 Did not like that he wasn’t receiving promised pay, thought the leaders
were enriching themselves
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 Mandela and co-accused agreed that they would

freely admit to the charge of Sabotage
 However, they denied that any lives had been put at risk
by their campaign
 Strategy: Politicize the trial by arguing that their
struggle was morally legitimate, conducted on behalf
of the people of South Africa for freedom and
democracy
 Government  domination and oppressive – had
given little choice but armed struggle to pursuit
equality.
MANDELA DURING THE RIVONIA TRIAL

 “Above all, we want equal political rights, because without them our disabilities will be permanent. I know this
sounds revolutionary to whites in this country, because the majority of voters will be Africans. This makes the white
man fear democracy. But this fear cannot be allowed to stand in the way of the only solution which will guarantee
racial harmony and freedom for all. It is not true that enfranchisement of all will result in racial domination.
Political division, based on color, is entirely artificial and, when it disappears, so will the domination of one color
group by another. The ANC has spent half a century fighting against racialism. When it triumphs it will not change
that policy.
 This then is what the ANC is fighting. Their struggle is truly a national one. It is a struggle of the African people,
inspired by their own suffering and their own experience. It is a struggle for the right to live. During my lifetime I
have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have
fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons
live together harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if it
needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”
RIVONIA TRIAL

 Mandela could have argued that since he was already

in prison in 1962 when the Sabotage Act was
introduced, he could not possibly be guilty
 Instead, stood with colleagues, and confirmed to the
court that he had continued to act while in jail as the
leader and took responsibility for the actions of the
MK
 Those accused agreed to accept the death penalty if
convicted
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 Trial draws to an end by June 1964

 Hundreds of journalists word-wide descended on Court in Pretoria – the world waited to see what would happen
 June 9th, the UN Security council passes a resolution calling for the SA Government to end the trial and offer
amnesty to all involved
 USA, France, Britain, and Brazil abstained from the vote

 Justice Quartus de Wet – verdict: guilty of all the charges (except Bernstein)
 Alan Paton, member of Liberal Party (opposed to apartheid) gave a speech asking for clemency
 Judge sentence men to life in prison – all go to maximum security prison Robben Island (except Goldberg – white only)
RIVONIA TRIAL
CONSEQUENCE OF RIVONIA

 Rivonia Trial marked the end of an era in the struggle against apartheid
 Government had successfully broken the ANC and MK
 All major leaders, except the banned and increasingly frail Chief Luthuli, are either imprisoned or in exile
 Townships remain quiet, little to threaten the Apartheid State until in the 1970s
 Unprecedented numbers of White South Africans would vote for the NP

 Oliver Tambo becomes leader of the ANC while in exile in Zambia

 ANC does not accomplish much but remains intact
 Rise of Steve Biko’s South African Student’s Organization and the Black Consciousness Movement in the 1960s and 70s
 To end Apartheid, it will take open revolt of townships in 1980s coupled with international isolation and trade sanctions
that wreak havoc on South African economy.