Nelson Mandela: how apartheid regime's court tried to destroy the ANC

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/07/nelson-mandela-rivonia-trial-anc

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The Rivonia trial, in which Nelson Mandela and nine other leaders are charged with attempting to overthrow the state by violent means, has reached the end of its first phase. The prosecution has produced its last witness and early next week the trial will adjourn for weeks, before the defence produces its case.

This is the most important trial in the stormy history of the African opposition. The state has produced a massive collection of documents, most of them collected eight months ago, when the police raided the remote Lilliesleaf farm in Rivonia, outside Johannesburg, and captured most of the accused.

Every day the 10 men have been led in from Pretoria jail, handcuffed and surrounded by police, into the ornate Palace of Justice in the middle of the city. The palace is thick with police and spectators are watched for a sign of a smile or a wink: the audience has dwindled to a handful.

The prosecution's evidence

The accused have listened, over the last three months, to the evidence of 174 witnesses and the recital of 500 documents. They look remarkably calm and undeterred. Mandela, in apparent good health, exchanges occasional comment with his neighbour Walter Sisulu. Black, white and Indian sit together in a row.

With tireless enthusiasm and dramatic gestures Dr Percy Yutar, the eager prosecutor, has unfolded the evidence for his opening indictment, which claims that the accused were plotting a war of liberation against the government, to be assisted by an invasion of foreign troops. The state has spread its net widely. Its evidence includes three secret witnesses, Mr X, Mr Y and Mr Z, who claimed to have been working for the liberation movement and gave details of training in explosives and guerrilla warfare.

A home-grown affair

A taxi driver described how he had ferried 260 recruits across the Bechuanaland border. Another witness explained his journey to Ethiopia for training. But what Dr Yutar describes as "the cornerstone" of the case is a document found at Lilliesleaf farm, outlining the secret Operation Mayibuye (Operation Comeback).

The document explains the necessity of violence and outlines a scheme of revolution in which four groups of 30 men each were to be landed by sea. They would then be joined by an internal force of 7,000 guerrillas. The combined force would begin a "massive onslaught on selected targets".

But the prosecution has not managed to sustain one important part of the indictment – that the accused were part of an international communist conspiracy, rooted abroad. In fact, the evidence has suggested that, although members of the communist party were involved, the revolutionary plan was essentially a home-grown affair; and that military and financial support was to come largely from other African states.

The trial has been properly conducted. Much of the evidence was obtained after relentless interrogation of captured men during 90-day detentions in solitary confinement, but the documentation has been thorough, including a diary kept by Mandela. The judge, Mr Justice Quartus de Wet, has been scrupulously fair.

The defence lawyers, led by Mr Bram Fischer and Mr Vernon Berrange, two of the most brilliant and courageous of the breed of leftwing Johannesburg barristers, are now going through the piles of documents and considering their tactics. From the defence cross-examination it seems likely that some important parts of the evidence may not be disputed. It is also probable that one or two of the accused will explain why they have taken their stand.

The charges, if proven, can carry the death sentence; therefore a real possibility exists that some of the accused, including Mandela, could be hanged.

If this were to happen, it would have very large repercussions. It would produce the first African martyrs. It would make the conscience of America and Britain – where Mandela enjoys great personal prestige – much more uncomfortable. And it would proclaim more clearly that South Africa is now in a state of war. But whatever the verdict, it is clear that the trial will be a landmark in the African political movement: for it is unlikely that Mandela will want to refute the charge that he has resorted to violent means.

Setback for resistance

The contrast with the treason trial which ended three years ago, and involved most of the Rivonia accused, is complete: for that marked the last stage of the non-violent movement.

The Rivonia trial, together with mass arrests in the Pan-African Congress and the exodus of political leaders, has produced a major setback for the African resistance. A few isolated acts of sabotage continue: electric pylons are still blown up, and the slogan APARTHEID MEANS WAR still appears.

A few days ago a policeman gave evidence at the trial that he had had no acts of sabotage in his district in the East Rand since last July. The next day there was an explosion in his district on the East Rand railway line. The African National Congress is certainly not dead.

But the individual African leadership, prominent for the last 10 years, is now in effect incapacitated inside the republic. The new situation, generated by the trial, the Sabotage bill, and the ruthless 90-day detentions, has produced a far more desperate challenge.

It is still too early to have a very clear picture of the new leadership that is emerging out of despair. It does not, astonishingly, seem noticeably anti-white, but it will certainly be less sophisticated, less moderate and much more secretive than its predecessors.

It … seems now inevitable that the terrorism of the police will be met by counter-terrorism. But it is unlikely outsiders will know anything about the new movement – until it strikes.

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