The Rivonia Trials (1963-1964)

The Rivonia Trials (1963-1964) 

The name ”Rivonia Trials” comes from one of the northern suburbs of Johannesburg where the resistance movement’s safe house was located. The safe house was used by ANC leaders and SACP leaders. They were hiding from the authorities following the Unlawful Organisations Act of 1960. When MK (Umkhonto we Sizwe), the armed wing of the ANC, was founded in December 1961 the house also became the headquarters for its high command. Then when MK Chairman and ”Black Pimpernel” Nelson Mandela was arrested in August 1962 he could no longer play his key role in the organisation. Mandela was caught by the police when he was trying to sneak back into Johannesburg disguised as a chauffeur. He was after a short trial sentenced to a five years imprisonment. Despite of Nelson Mandela’s absence the MK kept operating with Walter Sisulu and leading white communists taking the lead. However, in 1963, the safe house (Liliesleaf farm) was raded because of a tip from a neighbour. The police found a couple of the MK high command, studying a document called ”Operation Mayibuye”. Eleven defendants, including Nelson Mandela, was charged with treason in a case that brought the attention of the whole world.

The trial began in October 1963 and the main law they were charged for breaking was the Sabotage Act of 1962 (defined sabotage as a capital offence). Chief prosecutor Percy Yutar sentenced them to death for having carried out acts of sabotage that had endangered human life and that they were planning to use violence to overthrow the state. Mandela and the others admitted the sabotage part but denied that their campaign had endangered lives. Their strategy was to argue that their struggle was morally legitimate, conducted on behalf of the South African’s for democracy and freedom. They argued that the harsh actions of the government had forced them into armed struggle

It was a risk to take to argue that their actions was morally legitimate and Mandela could much more easily argued that he was in prison when the 1962 Sabotage Act was put in place and could not be guilty under that law. He stood with his coworkers and stated that he had keep working as a MK leader from prison and took responsibility for their actions.

When the trial ended in June 1964  hundreds of journalists, photographers and diplomats from around the world defended on the court building in Pretoria. By now the world was widely engaged in this trial and it had been protested internationally for several months. The UN Security Council had passed a resolution calling on the South African government to end the trials and offer amnesty to all of the accused. The only countries who did not vote was the U.S, Brazil, France and Britain. June 11th the verdict came and all of the accused, except Lionel Bernstein, was found guilty of all the charges. Then the defence called Alan Paton, famous novels and president of the Liberal Party (a parliamentary party opposing apartheid), to testify for clemency. Paton argued that they should be spared for the good of the country, despite his objection to the armed struggle. The judge then sentenced them all to life imprisonment instead, Denis Goldberg being the only one sent to a Whites-only prison. The others found themselves at the maximum security prison Robben Island.

The most significant consequence of the Rivonia Trial is that it marks the end of an era in the struggle against apartheid, a struggle that would remain quiet for more than a decade. With the Rivonia Trial the South African government successfully broke the ANC and MK, all of their leaders, except for Chief Luthuli, were either in exile or imprisoned. It wasn't until the Soweto Uprising in 1976 that the apartheid system would be threatened again, until then the NP was supported by most of white South Africans.