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Home , Ahmed Kathrada, Andrew Mlangeni, Arthur Goldreich, Elias Motsoaledi, Govan Mbeki, Lionel Bernstein

The Trial - Ten Years After

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Alternative title Notes and Documents - United Nations Centre Against ApartheidNo. 8/74 Author/Creator United Nations Centre against Publisher Department of Political and Security Council Affairs Date 1974-05-00 Resource type Reports Language English Subject Coverage (spatial) Coverage (temporal) 1964 - 1974 Source Northwestern University Libraries Description "The cause of the prisoners of apartheid is the cause of all humanity" by H.E. Mr. Edwin Ogebe Ogbu (), Chairman of the Special Committee on Apartheid. A brief review of the "Rivonia trial" of Mandela and others. Biographical particulars on the accused in the Rivonia trial. Format extent 19 page(s) (length/size)

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http://www.aluka.org UNIT ON APARTHEID

UNIT ON APARTHEID DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL AND SECURITY COUNCIL AFFAIRS No. 8/7 NO DOCUMENTS* May 1974 NVorth j AER 7I TH RIV A TRIAL - TEN Yrsit A 3 97 "The cause of th prisoners of apartheid is tie cause 1 of all hum ity" by H. E. Mr,, Edwin Ogebe Ogbu (Nigeria), h of the9 i,4 Committee on Apartheid A brief review of the "Rivonia trial" of nlg Mandela and others Biographical particulars on the accused in the Rivonia 9 trial /Note: On 12 , eight leaders of the liberation movement of South Africa were sentenced to life imprisonment, under the "sabotage act", for their leadership of the underground struggle against apartheid and for freedom, after the banning of the African political organizations. Their trial, known as the "Rivonia trial" after the name of the farm at which most of the accused were arrested, was condemned by the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council, as well as by numerous Governments and organizations. This issue of "Notes and Documents" is devoted to this trial and includes biographical particulars on the eight leaders who have already spent a decade in prison. The United Nations General Assembly, in resolution 3055 (XXVIII) of 26 October 1973, expressed its strong conviction that the release of the leaders of the oppressed people of South Africa and other opponents of apartheid from imprisonment and other restrictions, is essential for a peaceful solution of the grave situation in South Africa. It appealed to all Governments, organizations and individuals to undertake a more vigorous and concerted action to publicize and support the legitimate cause of all those persecuted in South Africa for opposition to apartheid and racial discrimination.7 74-10280 *All material in these notes and documents may be freely reprinted. Acknowledgement, together with a copy of the publication containing the reprint, would be appreciated.

The cause of the prisoners of apartheid is the cause of all humanity On 12 June 1974 it will be ten years since , , and other leaders of the South African liberation movement were sentenced to life imprisonment. These men are in prison because they have valiantly led their people in the sacred struggle against racist oppression and exploitation, and for freedom and dignity. The South African regime has imprisoned them in defiance of repeated demands by United Nations organs that it abandon its policy of apartheid and the persecution of opponents of racism. It has, instead, enacted ever more ruthless repressive laws and jailed, banished, restricted or forced into exile, numerous leaders of the Black people, as well as a number of white opponents of .a_1rtheid. They include Mr. Robert Mangeliso Sobukwe, leader of the Pan Africanist Congress, who is under house arrest in Kimberley; Mr. , a distinguished Afrikaner jurist and defence counsel in the Rivonia trial, now 70 years old, serving a term of life imprisonment in Central Jail, Mr. Alexandre Moumbaris and Mr. Sean Hosey, Australian and Irish trade unionists, serving long terms of imprisonment for assistance to South Africanbworking people; and a large number of Black and white student leaders who have been subjected to severe restrictions for peaceful demonstrations against racial discrimination. As the United Nations General Assembly has recognized, in a resolution adopted on 26 October 1973, with only the delegation of the South African regime voting against, there can be no peaceful solution in South Africa without the liberation of these genuine leaders of the people and fighters for justice. The Special Committee on Apartheid has appealed, in a declaration in August 1973, that world public opinion keep alive the cause of the prisoners of the racist regime in South Africa which is, indeed, the cause of all humanity. NWe have a duty,, it declared, "to demonstrate our solidarity with those who are persecuted for their commitment to the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We must redouble our efforts and do all in our power to free those men and women who represent the best traditions of freedom movements, and to rid the world of the scourge of racism. ' Let the tenth anniversary of the end of the 'Rivonia trial" be the occasion to pledge unswerving solidarity with the many men and women who have been imprisoned or restricted for upholding the principles of the United Nations; to condemn the South African rigime for its crimes; and to provide all necessary assistance to the South African liberation movement in its struggle for the emancipation of the oppressed people of that country. Edwin Ogebe Ogbu Chairman Special Committee on Apartheid

- 2 - A BRIEF REVIEWl OF THE "RIVONIA TRIAL" On 9 , eleven prominent leaders of the Black people of South Africa and other opponents of apartheid were charged in Pretoria with acts of sabotage and preparations for guerilla warfare. The charges arose from the underground struggle launched by Umkonto We Sizwe (Spear of the Nation), associated with the African National Congress (ANC) after the banning of the ANC in 1960. The indictment was quashed on 30 October as fatally defective. Ten of the accused were immediately re-arrested and a new indictment was served on 12 November 1963 charging two counts of sabotage and two other counts. Their trial came to be known as the "Rivonia trial" as most of the accused had been arrested on a farm in Rivonia. The following were accused: Mr. Nelson Mandela, Mr. Walter Sisulu, Mr. Dennis Goldberg, Mr. Govan Mbeki, Mr. Ahmed Mohamed Kathrada, Mr. , Mr. , Mr. , Mr. Elias Motosoaledi and Mr. . The first count of sabotage alleged that the accused, acting in concert with a number of persons and through their agents and servants, (a) recruited persons for instruction in the manufacture and use of explosives and for military training inside and outside South Africa; and (b) committed 154 acts of sabotage listed in the indictment. Accused one to seven were charged both in their personal capacities and as members of the National High Command of the Umkonto We Sizwe. Named as co-conspirators were twenty-two individuals and three organizations the South Party, the African National Congress and the Umkonto We Sizwe. The second count alleged further acts of recruitment of persons and thirtynine other acts of violence and sabotage, as well as a conspiracy to commit acts of guerilla warfare and violent revolution. The third count alleged that such acts were calculated to further the achievement of one or more of the objects of communism. The fourth count alleged that the accused solicited, accepted, received and paid out money to various persons to enable or assist them to commit sabotage. The case of the prosecution The prosecutor stated that the accused had plotted to commit sabotage, violence and destruction as a prelude to guerilla warfare, armed invasion of South Africa and the violent overthrow of the Government in a war of liberation planned for 1963. The plot was the work of the African National Congress which, by the latter half of 1961, had decided on a policy of violence, and for that purpose formed a military wing, the Umkonto We Sizwe. The headquarters of the organization were at Lilliesleaf Farm, Rivonia, the home of Mr. . Basing his presentation largely on a document called 'Operation Mayibuye found at the farm, the prosecutor claimed that the accused planned guerilla warfare and had intended to produce or acquire large quantities of arms, ammunition and explosives. He charged that Mr. Dennis Goldberg had assisted in the preparations for the manufacture of explosives, arms and weapons, and in the training of men for warfare, and that Mr. and Mr. Andrew Mlangeni had played a prominent part in recruiting young men for military training, especially outside South Africa. - 3 - He alleged that the firm of James Kantor and partners had acted as a "conduit pipe' for the receipt and disbursement of funds to further the campaign by which the accused planned to overthrow the Government. The prosecutor said that sabotage began in 1961. "The whole purpose of this, the first stage of their campaign, was to produce chaos, disorder and turmoil, and so pave the way for the second stage." The second stage was the plotting and waging of guerilla warfare. Thousands of guerilla units were to be deployed throughout the country to "'accentuate a state of chaos, disorder and turmoil and so facilitate acts of assistance to military units of foreign countries when invading South Africa. They were promised military and financial aid from several African States and even by countries across the seas.i' The final stage of the second phase would come when the Government had been brought to its knees and the accused could set up a provisional revolutionary government to take over the country. The prosecutor presented 173 witnesses and about 500 documents in evidence. Admissions by counsel for defence Counsel for defendants admitted that: (a) the Umkonto We Sizwe had decided, in June 1963, to make preparations for guerilla warfare and, to this end, recruited men and sent them out of the country for military training; (b) the national executive of the African National Congress had agreed to allow its secretariat and external missions to help the Umkonto We Sizwe; and (c) the purpose of these preparations was to ensure that the Umkonto We Sizwe would be ready should guerilla warfare be decided on. They denied, however, that 'Operation Mayibuye 7, a plan for guerilla warfare, had been adopted. They argued that the case against Mr. Kathrada, Mr. Bernstein and Mr. Mhlaba had not been proved. Statements by defendants The defendants made statements to the Court, and several appeared for cross examination, explaining their role in the liberation movement and their attitude towards violence in the struggle for a non-racial democracy. In his statement on 20 April 1964, Mr. Nelson Mandela said that he had helped form the Umkonto We Sizwe. He traced the long struggle of the African National Congress to secure the rights of the African people by non-violent means. When the African National Congress was banned in 1960, he said that he and his colleagues had decided, after long consideration, not to obey this decree but to go underground. Mr. Mandela continued that after the Government met the stay-at-home strike of May 1961 with harsher laws and a massive show of force, thus indicating that it had decided to rule by force alone, new methods of continuing the fight had to be devised. He and his colleagues felt that the policy of attempting to achieve a non-racial state by non-violence had failed and that the followers of the African National Congress were beginning to lose confidence in this policy and were developing disturbing ideas of terrorism. They came to the conclusion that it would be unrealistic and wrong for African leaders to continue preaching peace and non-violence at a time when the Government met their peaceful demands with force. They consulted with the leaders of various organizations, including the African National Congress, and formed the Umkonto We Sizwe in November 1961. The Umkonto, he said, was distinct from the African National Congress which was a mass organization which could not and would not undertake violence. The African National Congress, however, was prepared to depart from its fifty-year old policy of non-violence and would not take disciplinary action against members who undertook such activity. The Umkonto was to be subject to the political guidance of the African National Congress. The Umkonto chose to adopt the method of sabotage and to exhaust it before taking a decision on guerilla warfare or other plans. Sabotage was chosen because it did not involve loss of life, would keep racial bitterness to the minimum, and would attract the widest sympathy. Strict instructions had been given to the Umkonto members that on no account were they to injure or kill people in planning or carrying out operations. The Umkonto organized the first operation on 16 December 1961 when Government buildings in , and Durban were attacked. In the manifesto issued on that day, the Umkonto said: "We of Umkonto We Sizwe have always sought to achieve liberation without bloodshed and civil clash. We hope, even at this late hour, that our first actions will awaken everyone to a realization of the disastrous situation to which the Nationalist policy is leading. We hope that we will bring the Government and its supporters to their senses before it is too late, so that both the Government and its policies can be changed before matters reach the desperate stage of civil war.7' Mr. Mandela continued that in 1962, he had undertaken a successful tour of African States to obtain facilities for the training of soldiers and scholarshiops for higher education of Africans. The African National Congress was willing to permit its offices outside South Africa to co-operate in this project. But for this exception, great care had been taken to keep the activities of the Umkonto and the African National Congress distinct. Mr. Mandela described the struggle of the African National Congress against racial domination and for African rights, and concluded: "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 in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if need be, it is an ideal for which ." Mr. Walter Sisulu, Secretary-General of the African National Congress, said that the Congress had allowed its members to participate in acts of sabotage under the leadership of the Umkonto. He was aware of the formation of the Umkonto, but did not join it because it was not considered politic for him todo so and because he did not feel any aptitude for that kind of work. He did, however,

- 5 - keep in touch with the leaders of the Umkonto on political questions and had attended some of the organization's meetings. Mr. Sisulu said that "Operation Mayibuye", the guerilla warfare plan, had been drawn up by Mr. Arthur Goldreich. It had not been approved; after examination by the National High Command of the Umkonto, and by the Secretariat and the national executive of the African National Congress, it had been referred back in July 1963 as incomplete. He and his colleagues had felt that conditions were not ripe for "Operation Mayibuye". Mr. Kathrada, a young leader of the Indian community, said he had been active in political affairs since the age of eleven. He had been arrested at the age of seventeen and on sixteen other occasions since that time. He had been placed under house arrest in October 1962. He had chosen to go underground after the enactment of the legislation in May 1963 for ninety-day detention without trial. While underground at Rivonia, he had done typing and other work for his political colleagues. He had not been connected with the Umkonto and had some misgivings about guerilla warfare. Mr. Mhlaba said that he was a member of the African National Congress and had worked in the Communist Party until 1950. He denied membership pin Umkonto, but said he would have Joined it if he had been asked to do so. Mr. Bernstein, a member of the South African Communist Party, denied membership in the Umkonto. Mr. Mbeki, a leader of the African National Congress, said that he had been appointed to the High Command of Umkonto in April 1963. He had taken part in the activities listed in the indictment but was not prepared to plead guilty as he did not feel that any moral guilt attached to his actions. Mr. Mbeki added that the guerilla warfare plan had not been adopted because some pre-conditions, such as support for it by the mass of the people, had not been fulfilled and because its implementation might alienate some whites who had recognized the claims of non-whites. Mr. Goldberg said he had done whatever he could in the past ten years to further his belief in political and social equality of the races and had suffered harassment and imprisonment by the police. He denied that he had been a member of the Umkonto, but admitted that he had investigated the possibility of a campaign of guerilla warfare at the request of Mr. Goldreich. He had concluded that the problems involved could not be solved on six months' notice. Mr. Mlangeni said that he had not been a member of the Umkonto but had agreed to carry messages for the Umkonto and had co-operated with it in other ways. Mr. Motsoaledi said that he had joined the Umkonto in 1962 and had helped to recruit men for training overseas.

- 6 - Conviction and sentence Delivering the judgement on 11 June 1964, Mr. Justice de Wet held that it had not been proved that the plan for 'Operation Mayibuye" - involving preparation for guerilla warfare and acts of assistance to military units of foreign countries - had gone beyond the preparation stage. He, therefore, dismissed paragraphs 3, 4 and 5 of Count 3 of the indictment. He found Mr. James Kantor, one of the accused who had been discharged at the end of the prosecution's case on 4 March 1964, and Mr. Lionel Bernstein not guilty. The other eight accused were found guilty. (Mr. Kathrada, however, was found guilty only on the second count.) On 12 June 1964, he sentenced the eight accused to life imprisonment. After the sentence, the crowd outside the court shouted 'Amandhla Ngawethu" ("Power to the People;'), broke into song and unfolded posters which read: :?You will not serve these sentences as long as we live," "We are proud of our leaders, no tears will be shed, and ;'Sentence or no sentence, we stand by our leaders.;7 Protest on the trial and the sentences The Rivonia trial aroused world-wide interest and one of the largest international protests against political persecution. Chief Albert J. Luthuli, President of the African National Congress, issued the following statement on 12 June 1964: "Sentences of life imprisonment have been pronounced on Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, , Govan Mbeki, Dennis Goldberg, Raymond Mhlaba, Elias Motsoaledi and Andrew Mlangeni in the Rivonia Trial in Pretoria. "Over the long years these leaders advocated a policy of racial co-operation, of goodwill, and of peaceful struggle that made the South African liberation movement one of the most ethical and responsible of our time. In the face of the most bitter racial persecution, they resolutely set themselves against racialism; in the face of continued provocation, they consistently chose the path of reason. "The African National Congress, with allied organizations representing all racial sections, sought every possible means of redress for intolerable conditions and held consistently to a policy of using militant, non-violent means of struggle. Their common aim was to create a South Africa in which all South Africans would live and work together as fellow-citizens, enjoying equal rights without discrimination on grounds of race, colour or creed. "To this end, they used every accepted method: propaganda, public meetings and rallies, petitions, stay-at-home-strikes, appeals, boycotts. So carefully did they educate the people that in the four-year-long Treason Trial, one police witness after another voluntarily testified to this emphasis on non-violent methods of

- 7 - struggle in all aspects of their activities. "But finally all avenues of resistance were closed. The African National Congress and other organizations were made illegal; their leaders jailed, exiled or forced underground. The Government sharpened its oppression of the peoples of South Africa, using its all-white parliament as the vehicle for making repression legal, and utilizing every weapon of this highly industrialized and modern state to enforce that 'legality'. The stage was even reached where a white spokesman for the disenfranchized Africans was regarded by the Government as a traitor. In addition, sporadic acts of uncontrolled violence were increasing throughout the country. At first in one place, then in another, there were spontaneous eruptions against intolerable conditions; many of these acts increasingly assumed a racial character. "The African National Congress never abandoned its method of a militant, non- violent struggle, and of creating in the process a spirit of militancy in the people. However, in the face of the uncompromising white refusal to abandon a policy which denies the African and other oppressed South Africans their rightful heritage - freedom - no one can blame brave men for seeking justice bythe useof violent methods; nor could they be blamed if they tried to create an organized force in order to ultimately establish peace and racial harmony. 'For this, they are sentenced to be shut away for long years in the brutal and degrading prisons of South Africa. With them will be interred this country's hopes for racial co-operation. They will leave a vacuum in leadership that may only be filled by bitter hate and racial strife. "They represent the highest in morality and ethics in the South African political struggle; this morality and ethics have _e been sentenced to an imprisonment it may never survive. Their policies are in accordance with the deepest international principles of brotherhood and humanity; without their leadership, brotherhood and humanity may be blasted out of existence and reason; when they are locked away, justice and reason will have departed from the South African scene. 'This is an appeal to save these men, not merely as individuals, but for what they stand for. In the name of justice, of hope, of truth and of peace, I appeal to South Africa's strongest allies, Britain and America. In the name of what we have come to believe Britain and America stand for, I appeal to those two powerful countries to take decisive action for full-scale sanctions that would precipitate the end of the hateful system of apartheid. ;'I appeal to all governments throughout the world, to people everywhere, to organizations and institutions in every land and at every level, to act now to impose such sanctions on South Africa that will bring about the vital necessary change and avert what can become the greatest African tragedy of our times."

-8 Also on 12 June 1964, the African Group of the United Nations issued a communique in which it stated: "lThe sentences are a provocation and a challenge flung by the racist rulers of South Africa against all the peoples of Africa who pledged at the historic Addis Ababa Conference last year that the cause of the oppressed peoples of South Africa is the vital concern of all Africa. "These sentences are also a direct challenge to the United Nations - both to the General Assembly which called for the ending of this trial by an overwhelming vote on 11 October 1963 and to the Security Council which demanded the liberation of all prisoners on August 7 and December 4, 1963, and again on June 9, 1964. It is a challenge that the United Nations cannot afford to ignore. "We hope that peoples, organizations and governments around the world will redouble their efforts to secure the liberation of these courageous leaders who should not only be free but should be allowed to play their rightful role in the Government of the country." The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Michael Ramsay, commented as follows on the convictions and sentences: "The men were guilty of sabotage and other offences against the law as it exists, but their actions were the outcome of conscience, and wherever in the world there is respect for conscience and hatred of the policy of apartheid, there will be understanding of Mr. Mandela's words that he acted from 'a calm and sober assessment of the situation after many years of oppression and tyranny of my people by the whites.' If he is guilty before the existing law, the guilt before heaven belongs to the policy which the law is designed to enforce. The ideal and practice of apartheid is a denial of God's law of the relation of man to man as, irrespective of colour, created in the image of God."

- 9.. BIOGRAPHICAL PARTICULARS Mr. Nelson (Rolihlahla D.) MANDELA "I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for, and to achieve. But if need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." - From the statement from the dock by Mr. Mandela, 20 April 1964. ;'Rolihlahla is a true national leader of the African people and not a puppet like other so-called leaders. He has been imprisoned for fighting for his people and their motherland." Paramount Chief Sabata Dalindyebo at the funeral of Mrs. Fanny Mandela, October 1968. Mr. Mandela was born in Umtata in 1918 in the Tembu Royal House. His father was a prominent chief who was a member of the Bunga and chief councillor to the Paramount Chief. As a boy in his village he was fascinated by the elders' epic stories of Dingaan and Bambata, Hintsa, Makana, Moshoeshoe and Sekhukhuni, and took pride in a feeling of identity with his people's history and culture. The African past became a source of inspiration to him. He matriculated at Healdtown Institute in the , and went on to Fort Hare University College. He was described as a gay and lively-minded allrounder who threw himself into a wide variety of activities outside the lecture rooms -. ballroom dancing, Sunday School teaching and athletics. He was vicechairman of the Students' Athletic Union, and was particularly interested in boxing, an interest that he retained through later life. He was drawn into student politics in his second year at Fort Hare, and was one of the leaders of the boycott of the elections to the Students' Representative Council in 1940. He fled to Johannesburg at the beginning of 1941 to avoid an arranged tribal marriage in the royal household. He worked briefly as a mine policeman and a clerk. Then he happened to meet Mr. Walter Sisulu, who was well-known for the interest he took in the advancement of young Africans with intellectual ambitions. Mr. Sisulu introduced him to a legal firm to which he became articled. In 1944, he joined the African National Congress and, along with Mr. and others, founded the militant Youth League of the ANC. He and Mr. Tambo had been at Fort Hare together and were articled to attorneys within a block of each other; they finally went into legal practice in 1951 as partners in their firm.

- 10 - In 1952, Mr. Mandela became President and Deputy National President of the ANC. He came into national prominence that year in the Campaign of Defiance of Unjust Laws as volunteer-in-chief leading the 8,500 volunteers who courted imprisonment. He received a suspended sentence and was soon served with banning orders preventing him from attending gatherings or leaving Johannesburg. He was again arrested in December 1956 and charged in the Treason Trial which dragged on until 1961, when all the accused were acquitted. Soon after, Mr. Mandela joined with others in organiizing the All-in African Convention in Pietermaritzburg which called for a national convention of representatives of all the peoples of South Africa to work out a new democratic constitution. The banning orders on Mr. Mandela had expired on the eve of the convention, and he went into hiding to avoid being served with new orders. Making a surprise appearance at the convention, he was elected leader of the National Action Council to implement its decisions. Immediately going underground, Mr. Mandela directed the organization of a nation-wide three-day strike on 29, 30 and 31 May 1961. The Government broke the strike with the arrests of thousands of Africans, and a massive show of military and police force. Mr. Mandela and his colleagues then came to the c. nclusion ,that sole reliance on non-violent methods of struggle was no longer realistic. In June 1961, they decided to establish Umkonto We Sizwe, with Mr. Mandela as the leader. In December 1961, the Umkonto organized acts of sabotage in Johannesburg, Durban and Pretoria. Meanwhile, Mr. Mandela went abroad. He participated at a conference of the Pan African Freedom Movement of East, Central and Southern Africa (PAFMECSA) in Addis Ababa in January 1962, and visited a number of African countries and the United Kingdom. At the PAFECSA Conference, he called for international economic sanctions against South Africa. Such pressures, he said, give "a tremendous impetus to the freedom struggle inside South Africa." But, he added: ;'It would be fatal to create the illusion that external pressures make it unnecessary for us to tackle the enemy from within. The centre and cornerstone of the struggle...lies inside South Africa.' Returning to South Africa, he evaded the police until August 1962 when he was captured and charged with inciting the strikes in 1961 and leaving South Africa illegally. In November 1962 he was sentenced to five years' imprisonment. He was again brought to court in the ;'Rivonia trial" in October 1963 as accused number one. His statement from the dock, delivered on 20 April 1964, has been published by the United Nations. Mr. Oliver Tambo, a close colleague of Mr. Mandela, wrote: ;?As a man Nelson is passionate, emotional, sensitive, quickly stung to bitterness and retaliation by insult and patronage. He has a natural air of authority. He cannot help magnetizing a crowd: he is commanding with a tall, handsome bearing; trusts and is trusted by the youth, for their impatience reflects his own; appealing to the women. He is dedicated and fearless. He is the born mass leader...

- 11 - "He is the symbol of the self-sacrificing leadership our struggle has thrown up and our people need. He is unrelenting, yet capable of flexibility and delicate judgement. He is an outstanding individual, but he knows that he derives his strength from the great masses of people who make up the freedom struggle in our country." (From introduction to Nelson Mandela, No Easy Walk to Freedom, Heinemann, London, 1965). Mr. Mandela has been in jail since August 1962. During these twelve years, his brother (Mr. Mayeza Gush Mandela), his mother (Mrs. Fanny Mandela) and his son (Mr. Thandekile Styles Mandela) have died. The Government has consistently refused him even permission to attend the funerals. His wife, Mrs. Winnie Mandela, a social worker, has faced constant harassment and persecution. They had married when Mr. Mandela was on trial for treason. A year after the marriage, in 1958, while pregnant, she was arrested for taking part in a demonstration against passes for African women. She spent a fortnight in jail before being acquitted. Since 28 January 1963, she has been restricted under banning orders which have been made more and more stringent and now place her under house arrest at nights and weekends. She had to obtain special permission even to attend her husband's trial and to visit him in prison. She was repeatedly arrested on charges of technical infringements of banning orders. She was held incommunicado in detention for 600 days in 1969-70 under the Terrorism Act and brutally ill-treated despite a heart condition. (See Unit on Apartheid "Notes and Documents" No. 51/71, "Persecution of Mrs. Nonzano Winnie Mandela".) Mr. Walter (Max Ulyate) SISULU Mr. Sisulu was born on 18 May 1912 in the Engcobo district of the . He had a traditional tribal upbringing in a strictly religious Christian home, and remained a regular churchgoer until political bans prevented his attendance. His meagre formal schooling was at a mission school from which he had to absent himself each season to assist the women with the ploughing, since most of the grown men were away working in the mines. After completing Standard VI, he himself went to work in the mines at the age of seventeen. Later, he worked in East London and then moved to Johannesburg where he found employment in a large bakery. He began to attend night classes at the Bantu Men's Social Centre and was connected with the Centre for many years. During the 1930's he was active in various cultural societies. He sang with St. Mary's Church Choir and was Chairman of the Orlando Musical Association. He became secretaryof the Orlando Brotherly Society which was concerned with economic independence for Africans and fostered an interest in Xhosa history.

- 12 - He studied Xhosa history and contributed articles to the Bantu World. Thus began a long association with newspaper ventures which included a news agency, a printing press company (of which one of his co-directors was Dr. Xuma) and a weekly newspaper. Later he and four other African businessmen started an estate agents company. As the years went by, Mr. Sisulu's ambitions of personal advancement were subordinated to his preoccupation with the struggle for the rights of the African people. At times his wife had been sole supporter of the family, as he was engaged full-time in political work. He joined the ANC in 1940 and became the treasurer of the Youth League which was formed to advocate a more militant policy. In 1949, when the ANC adopted the programme of positive action, he became Secretary-General and served under the presidency of Dr. Moroka and his successor, Chief Luthuli. He was active in all the ANC campaigns and was arrested and banned on numerous occasions since then. He led a group of volunteers in the Campaign of Defiance against Unjust Laws in 1952. He was accused in the abortive Treason Trial of 1956-1961 and shared a cell with Mr. Mandela while detained for five months during the State of Emergency in 1960. He was placed under partial house arrest on 26 October 1962. In February 1963, he was sentenced to six years' imprisonment for organizing protest demonstrations on the eve of the proclamation of the Republic in May 1961 and furthering the aims of the ANC. Released on bail pending appeal, he was placed under 24-hour house arrest on 3 April 1963. He forfeited bail and was underground until arrested in Rivonia. During this.period he broadcast on an illegal radio on 26 June (South Africa Freedom Day). In his testimony at the Rivonia trial, Mr. Sisulu said that his aim was the achievement of emancipation for the African people from white domination. The ANC, he said, had always adhered to a peaceful, reasonable and tolerant course, but the whites were not prepared to consider the peaceful settlement of the African claims. They chose instead to turn South Africa into an armed camp. In these circumstances he had felt that the ANC could not continue preaching non- violence and in June 1961, he had supported the view that the time had come to adopt more energetic measures, including even sabotage, in the struggle for freedom. Mr. Sisulu is married and has five children. When Mr. Sisulu married in 1944, Mandela was his best man. Mr. A.M. Lambede, a lawyer and founder of the ANC Youth League, making a speech at the wedding, warned the bride: "You are marrying a man who is already married to the nation."' Mrs. Sisulu, a nurse and midwife, has also been active in the work of the ANC Women's League and the South African Women's Federation. She was detained, with her son Max (then 17-years-old) under the "90-day law' in 1963. Since August 1964, she has been confined by banning orders to the Orlando and prohibited from attending gatherings.

- 13 Mr. Dennis GOLDBERG Mr. Goldberg was born in in 1933. He completed the B.Sc. in Civil Engineering at the University of Cape Town in 1953. At the beginning of 1954, he founded the Modern Youth Society, which was concerned with the effects of the colour bar on the development of youth, and became absorbed in its activities. After working for some time for a firm of structural engineers, he obtained employment on the railways on 2 December 1954, but was soon dismissed for public speaking. He took a job as an engineer with the Cape Town City Council, practised for a time as a consulting engineer and then joined a Cape Town construction firm. In 1956 he joined the Congress of Democrats, a white group allied with the ANC, became a member of its executive and served as treasurer and chairman. He and his 61-year-old mother were detained for four months during the State of Emergency in 1960. He lost his job as a result of police harassment after release. A firm of consulting engineers, however, sent him to (now Namibia), to survey a new road, and he was appalled by the conditions under which he saw Ovambo contract labour working there. In testimony during the Rivonia trial, he said that he had not been a member of Umkonto We Sizwe. He was against the colour bar, which he felt was the crucial issue facing South Africa, and believed in political and social equality. Because of his political activities the police had-raided his home more than ten times. He had joined the Congress of Democrats which had subscribed largely to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. After the Congress had been banned, his work had been mostly in assisting the Coloured People's Congress. In November 1962, he was commandant of a holiday youth camp- of the Coloured People's Congress and the ANC Youth League where political education was given and discussions were held. Mr. Goldberg's wife and two children are now in the United Kingdom. Mrs. Esme Goldberg, a physiotherapist, had worked with him in the Congress of Democrats, and was also active in the Women's Federation. She had been detained under the "90-day law:' in 1963 while her husband was on trial. Mr. Govan (Archibald Mvunyelwa) MBEKI Mr. Mbeki was born in July 1910 in the Nqamakwe district of the Transkei. His father was a Chief but was deposed by the Government. He had become a cattle farmer with sizeable flocks of sheep, goats and horses, and a substantial house; he had sufficient means to provide his children with the best education available to them. The boy's interest in politics was aroused in his teens when the location where he lived was visited by an African minister who was an early member of the ANC. Later, in 1933, while at the Fort Hare University College, he was

- 14 impressed by a meeting with the late Dr. Edward Roux, and began to look upon the African problem not only as a problem of colour, but of class. The enactment of the Hertzog Bills in 1935, and with them the passing away of all hope of the extension of franchise to the Africans, led him to join the ANC and participate actively in politics. He graduated from Fort Hare in 1936 with a B.A. degree, majoring in politics and psychology, and a Diploma in Education. He also obtained B.Econ. by private study. He taught at a secondary school in Durban and then at Adams College. In his free time he investigated conditions among African workers in Durban and began to do some political journalism. His essays were published in 1939 under the title The Transkei in the Making. His special interest in his home district continued and in 1940, he was elected to the Transkei Territorial General Council. In 1941 he became secretary of the Transkei African Voters' Association, whose object was to restore the African voters to the common roll. He was General Secretary of the Transkei Organized Bodies from 1943 to 1948. This broadly-based organization of peasants and others drew up a charter of demands of the Transkei people, particularly with regard to land. Meanwhile, in 1943, he was co-author of a new policy document drawn up for the ANC, "The African Claims". In 1944, he was elected by the former students of Fort Hare as their first representative on the Governing Council. In 1946, he published a booklet on co-operatives, Let's Do It Together. During the fifties he ran a small shop to support his wife and four children, and also worked as a journalist. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Guardian and Port Elizabeth editor of New Age and Spark before these papers were banned. He went back to teaching in 1954 but was dismissed because of his hostility to Government policies. He then devoted much of his attention to building up the organization of the ANC in the African reserves. He was recognized as an expert on rural problems, particularly those of the Transkei. (His book, South Africa: The Peasants' Revolt, was published by Penguin African Library in 1964.) He was the leader of the ANC in the from 1955 and became national chairman of the ANC in 1956. He was a member of the joint committee of the which organized the :'Congress of the People" in 1955. He was detained for five months during the State of Emergency in 1960. Arrested again in December 1961 on charges under Explosives Act, he was acquitted after several months in jail. He was served with banning orders and placed under house arrest in April 1963. He then went underground and was appointed to the High Command of Umkonto We Sizwe. He was brought from prison to give evidence as a witness in the trial of Mr. Strachan in November 1965. He told the court that he still felt as ardently about his political beliefs as before being sentenced to life imprisonment in the Rivonia trial. He said that the paramount thing for him was the plight of the African people. He would willingly have sacrificed his

- 15 - life to achieve his political ends. Mr. Govan Mbeki is married and has three sons and a daughter. The eldest son, Mr. , appeared before a delegation of the United Nations Special Committee on Apartheid in London in April 1964, during the Rivonia trial. Mr. Ahmed Mohamed (CKathy") KATHRADA Mr. Kathrada was born in 1939 in Schweizer Reneke of a scholarly Indian family who were followers of Gandhi and were associated with him in his early days in Natal. His uncle was a prominent theologian in the Muslim world, and was Mufti of Burma. Young Kathrada went to school in Johannesburg, and began to take an interest in politics at an early age. In 1946, when only sixteen, he left school to do full-time political work in the offices of the Transvaal Passive Resistance Council, set up by the Indian Congress to protest the "Ghetto Act . In December of that year, he served one month in Durban jail as a passive resister. In 1951, while a student at the University of the Witwatersrand, he led the multi- racial South African delegation to the World Festival of Youth in Berlin. He was one of the organizers of the Campaign for Defiance of Unjust Laws launched in 1952 by the ANC and the South African Indian Congress (SAIC). He was given a nine months' suspended sentence for his part in this peaceful campaign. He became President of the Transvaal Indian Youth Congress, and held official or executive positions in the South African Peace Council, SAIC and the Youth Action Committee (which co-ordinated the youth movements of the ANC and the SAIC). In 1955 he helped establish the Central Indian High School and became Secretary of its Parents' Association. He continued with this work until restrictions under banning orders made it impossible for him to carry out his duties. He was banned in 1954 from attending gatherings and participating in the activities of 39 organizations. He was one of the accused in the Treason Trial of 1956-61; in 1960, he was detained for five months under emergency regulations; and in 1962 he was placed under house arrest. He escaped on 30 April 1963 and was arrested in Rivonia on 11 July 1963. By that time he had been charged 17 times and had been arrested on many more occasions. In his testimony in the Rivonia trial, he said that he had gone to Rivonia on 11 July 1963 to record a broadcast in answer to a statement by the Minister of Finance which sought to alienate Indians from the national liberation movement. The broadcast was couched in violent terms because he had drafted it in anger. The State prosecutor asked: "Do you agree that this broadcast is a vicious document - after all, you call them criminals?" Mr. Kathrada answered: 'I call them criminals because that is what they are.;' Mr. Raymond MHLABA Mr. Mhlaba was born in 1920 in the district. Both parents were barely literate, though the father was a policeman. Poverty and his father's frequent transfers made it difficult for him to obtain an education. It was not until he was nearly nineteen that he was able to go to a high school at the Healdtown Missionary Institution. He left school in 1941 after completing Standard VIII. While at Healdtown he became a member of a students' association which interested itself in African disabilities. After leaving school he went to work in the dry cleaning industry in Port Elizabeth and joined the Laundry Workers' Union. le joined the Communist Party in 1943 and the ANC in 1944. In 1946, while living in New Brighton township, he led a demonstration to Port Elizabeth City Hall protesting against high rentals in the township. In 1949 the residents decided to elect candidates to the Native Advisory Board to demonstrate in a practical form the Board's futility in redressing African grievances. Mr. Mhlaba was the first candidate and served on the board in 1950. He was the chairman of the New Brighton branch of the ANC from 1947 to. 1953, and was elected to the Cape Executive. He led the first batch of volunteers in Port Elizabeth in the Campaign of Defiance against Unjust Laws in 1952. He was detained during the State of Emergency in 1960. In testimony during the Rivonia trial, Mr. Mhlaba denied that he was a member of the Umkonto We Sizwe. He said, hosever, that he would have joined if he had been asked to do so and would have attacked any target which might have been selected. Mr. Mhlaba is a widower with eight children. His wife died in 1960 while he was in jail. Mr. Elias MOTSOALEDI Mr. Motsoaledi was born in Sekhukhuniland, near Middleburg, of poor parents who could not afford to keep him at school beyond Standard VI. At seventeen, he was sent alone to Johannesburg to seek work. During his first few days in the city, he forgot to take his pass one morning when going to look for a job and was arrested. He spent the weekend in jail and was sentenced to seven days' imprisonment. Such was his introduction to adult life. - 16 -

- 17 - On his release he found domestic work and later went to work in a boot factory for $3.36 a week. He was summarily dismissed when he led a deputation to the management to ask for an increased wage and better working conditions. But the secretary of the Leather Workers' Union intervened and succeeded in getting his employers to give him a week's notice to which he was entitled. After this experience, Mr. Mhlaba became interested in trade unionism, and this cost him his job with employer after employer. He enrolled as a member of the Communist Party. He kept up his ties with his home in Sekhukhuniland. In a dispute between the chief and his people over a levy imposed for the purchase of additional tribal lands, Motsoaledi and a boyhood friend were elected official spokesmen against the tribal authority. He joined the ANC in 1948 and was later elected a Branch Secretary and subsequently to the Provincial Executive. From 1949, Mr. Mhlaba was Chairman of the African Furniture, Mattress and Bedding Workers Union. He was also elected chairman of the Transvaal Council of Non-European Trade Unions. In 1952, he was detained in the Campaign for Defiance of Unjust Laws. After release, he spent five months in hospital with tuberculosis, and was served in his bed with stringent banning orders. He was detained for three months during the State of Emergency in 1960. He was again detained under the "90-day law' on 11 July 1963 and kept in solitary confinement for 50 days. In testimony during the Rivonia trial, he said that he had joined the Umkonto at the end of 1962, had been a member of the technical committee of the Johannesburg regional command, and had helped to recruit men for training overseas. He said that he had been assaulted and tortured during detention prior to the trial. Mr. Mlotsoaledi is married and has seven children. Mrs. Caroline Motsoaledi was herself detained in February 1964 while attending her husband's trial and kept in prison for 161 days. At the time of arrest, her youngest child was only six months old. Mr. Andrew MLANGENI Mr. Mlangeni was born in 1926 to a poor family in a Johannesburg location. His father died when he was six, and his mother, a washerwoman, supported the tweleve children. Poverty kept the boy out of school until he was old enough to work as a caddie, pay his own school fees and buy himself the minimum of necessary clothing. Later, an elder brother was able to help and he proceeded to St. Peter's Secondary School, where he passed his Junior Certificate in 1946. Despite his keenness to study further, he could not afford to do so. He took a job with the Johannesburg City Council, later worked for nine years as a clerk in

18 an engineering firm, and then became a bus-driver. He was also an amateur radio repair man. He joined the ANC Youth League in 1951 and the ANC itself in 1954. He was elected Branch Secretary of the ANC in 1956. He helped organize the All-in African Conference in 1961. He was a popular speaker at conferences and rallies. In testimony during the Rivonia trial, he said that he had not been a member of Umkonto We Sizwe but had agreed to carry messages for it. Mr. Mlangeni is married and has four children.