Treason Trial
Encyclopedia
The Treason Trial was a trial in which 156 people, including Nelson Mandela
, were arrested in a raid and accused of treason in South Africa
in 1956.
The main trial lasted until 1961, when all of the defendants were found not guilty. During the trials, Oliver Tambo
left the country and was exiled. Whilst in other European and African countries he started an organization which helped bring publicity to the African National Congress
's cause in South Africa. Some of the defendants were later convicted in the Rivonia Trial
in 1964.
Chief Luthuli
has said of the Treason Trial:
were arrested and charged with treason, including the almost entire executive committee of the ANC, as well as the SACP, SAIC
, COD
. 105 Africans, 21 Indians, 23 whites and 7 colored leaders were arrested. Ten of the arrestees were women. Many arrestees, including Nelson Mandela, were detained in communal cells in Johannesburg Prison, known as the Fort, resulting in what Mandela described as "the largest and longest unbanned meeting of the Congress Alliance in years." However, white men, white women, black were all held in a separate parts of the jail.
Initially, 156 defendants were charged with high treason. The number of defendants was later reduced to 92. In November 1957, the prosecution reworded the indictment and proceeded a separate trial against 30 accused. Their trial commenced in August 1959. The remaining 61 accused were tried separately before the case against them was dismissed in mid 1959.
Treason trial defendants (during various stages of the trial) included:
Lawyers for the defense included:
Judges included:
Witnesses included:
The trial and resulting periods of detention also allowed ANC leaders to consult about the direction of their struggle and the possibility of armed struggle. Ironically, the court found that the ANC was nonviolent just as the ANC was starting to question the effectiveness of this strategy.
In court, the 156 defendants sat in alphabetical order, visibly displayed the multiracial nature of the anti-apartheid movement. While the defendants sat side by side in court, they were strictly segregated in jail. When the trialists took over their own defense during the State of Emergency, they eventually convinced prison authorities to let them meet to plan their defense and white female defendants, white male defendants and black women defendants were brought to the African men's prison. Yet the prison authorities still sought to physically separate these defendants by race and gender in their meeting space. Mandela describes the practical dilemma the proponents of apartheid faced:
December 1956 - January 1958: Preparatory examination in a magistrates court to determine if there was sufficient evidence to warrant a trial.
November 1957: Prosecution rewords the indictment and proceeded a separate trial against 30 accused. The remaining 61 accused were to be tried separately before the case against them was dismissed in mid 1959.
August 1959: Trial against 30 defendants proceeds in the Supreme Court.
March 5, 1960: Chief Luthuli's testimony begins.
April 8, 1960: ANC is declared banned in the wake of the State of Emergence declared after the Sharpeville massacre
. Defendants retained in custody for five months and trial resumes without lawyers for several months.
May 1960: Helen Joseph
and 21 left-wing white women detained during the State of Emergence embark on an eight day hunger strike. The children of detainees protest outside Johannesburg
city hall.
August 3, 1960: Mandela's testimony begins.
October 7, 1960: Defense closes.
March 23, 1961: Trial adjourned for a week.
March 29, 1961: Accused are found not guilty.
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
, were arrested in a raid and accused of treason in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
in 1956.
The main trial lasted until 1961, when all of the defendants were found not guilty. During the trials, Oliver Tambo
Oliver Tambo
Oliver Reginald Tambo was a South African anti-apartheid politician and a central figure in the African National Congress .-Biography:Oliver Tambo was born in Bizana in eastern Pondoland in what is now Eastern Cape...
left the country and was exiled. Whilst in other European and African countries he started an organization which helped bring publicity to the African National Congress
African National Congress
The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
's cause in South Africa. Some of the defendants were later convicted in the Rivonia Trial
Rivonia Trial
The Rivonia Trial was a trial that took place in South Africa between 1963 and 1964, in which ten leaders of the African National Congress were tried for 221 acts of sabotage designed to overthrow the apartheid system.-Origins:...
in 1964.
Chief Luthuli
Albert Lutuli
Albert John Lutuli , also known by his Zulu name Mvumbi, was a South African teacher and politician. Lutuli was elected president of the African National Congress , at the time an umbrella organisation that led opposition to the white minority government in South Africa...
has said of the Treason Trial:
- "The treason trial must occupy a special place in South African history. That grim pre-dawn raid, deliberately calculated to strike terror into hesitant minds and impress upon the entire nation the determination of the governing clique to stifle all opposition, made one hundred and fifty-six of us, belonging to all the races of our land, into a group of accused facing one of the most serious charges in any legal system."
Defendants
In December 1956 many key members of the Congress AllianceCongress Alliance
The Congress Alliance was an anti-apartheid coalition formed in South Africa in the 1950s. Led by the ANC, the Congress was a multi-racial alliance committed to a democratic South Africa.- Congress Alliance, multi-racial struggle, and the Freedom Charter :...
were arrested and charged with treason, including the almost entire executive committee of the ANC, as well as the SACP, SAIC
SAIC
The acronym SAIC can stand for:*Science Applications International Corporation*School of the Art Institute of Chicago*Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation*Shanghai Aviation Industrial Company*Special Agent in Charge, acronym used by some U.S...
, COD
COD
Cod is the common name for fish of the genus Gadus, as well as being used to refer to several other varieties of fish.Cod or COD may also refer to:-Finance and commerce:...
. 105 Africans, 21 Indians, 23 whites and 7 colored leaders were arrested. Ten of the arrestees were women. Many arrestees, including Nelson Mandela, were detained in communal cells in Johannesburg Prison, known as the Fort, resulting in what Mandela described as "the largest and longest unbanned meeting of the Congress Alliance in years." However, white men, white women, black were all held in a separate parts of the jail.
Initially, 156 defendants were charged with high treason. The number of defendants was later reduced to 92. In November 1957, the prosecution reworded the indictment and proceeded a separate trial against 30 accused. Their trial commenced in August 1959. The remaining 61 accused were tried separately before the case against them was dismissed in mid 1959.
Treason trial defendants (during various stages of the trial) included:
- Nelson MandelaNelson MandelaNelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
, ANC (one of the final 30 defendants) - Ahmed KathradaAhmed KathradaAhmed Mohamed Kathrada is a South African politician and former political prisoner and anti-apartheid activist....
, accused number three, secretary-general of the Transvaal Indian Youth Congress (one of the final 30 defendants) - Walter SisuluWalter SisuluWalter Max Ulyate Sisulu was a South African anti-apartheid activist and member of the African National Congress .-Family and Education:...
, ANC (one of the final 30 defendants) - Stanley Lollan, accused number four, SACPC (one of the final 30 defendants)
- Leon Levy (one of the final 30 defendants)
- Helen JosephHelen JosephHelen Joseph , a South African anti-apartheid activist, was born in Easebourne near Midhurst West Sussex, England and graduated from King's College London, in 1927. After working as a teacher in India for three years, Helen came to South Africa in 1931, where she met and married Billie Joseph...
, white trade unionist and women's leader (one of the final 30 defendants) - Lillian Ngoyi (one of the final 30 defendants)
- Joe SlovoJoe SlovoFor Joe Slovo Informal Settlement in Cape Town, see: Joe Slovo .Joe Slovo was a South African politician, long-time leader of the South African Communist Party , and leading member of the African National Congress.-Life:Slovo was born in Obeliai, Lithuania to a Jewish family who emigrated to South...
, SACP lawyer (one of the final 30 defendants) - Duma NokweDuma NokwePhilemon Pearce Dumasile Nokwe was a South African freedom fighter....
(one of the final 30 defendants) - Bertha Mashaba Gxowa (one of the final 30 defendants)
- Ida Flyo Mntwana, first national president of the Federation of South African Women, died March 1960 before verdict (one of the final 30 defendants)
- Farid Adams (one of the final 30 defendants)
- Elias Moretsele, ANC leader, died on a few weeks before the trial ended (one of the final 30 defendants)
- Chief Luthuli, known as Chief Luthuli, then-president of the ANC, later released for lack of evidence.
- Alex La GumaAlex La GumaAlex La Guma was a South African novelist, leader of the South African Coloured People’s Organisation and a defendant in the Treason Trial, whose works helped characterise the movement against the apartheid era in South Africa...
, journalist and writer - Archie GumedeArchie GumedeArchibald Gumede was a South African anti-apartheid activist, lawyer and politician. Gumede was born in Pietermaritzburg to James Gumede, an early African National Congress leader. Archie Gumede led the Natal delegates at the 1955 Congress of the People in Kliptown during which the Freedom...
, now leader of the United Democratic Front. - Ben TurokBen TurokBen Turok is a former anti-apartheid activist and current South African member of parliament and a member of the African National Congress.He was born in Latvia in 1927 and came with his family to South Africa in 1934. He graduated from the University of Cape Town in 1950...
Academic, now member of Parliament - Monty NaickerMonty NaickerGagathura Mohambry Naicker was a medical doctor and a South African anti-apartheid activist of Indian Tamil descent.-Early Life:His father was a trader, exporting bananas....
, the Gandhian leader of the Natal Indian Congress - Ruth FirstRuth FirstRuth First was a white South African anti-apartheid activist and scholar born in Johannesburg, South Africa...
, SACP, journalist and wife of Slovo - Billy NairBilly NairBilly Nair was a South African politician, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa, an anti-apartheid activist and a political prisoner in Robben Island....
, Trade Unionist in Natal - Lionel Foreman, lawyer and journalist (indictment withdrawn) and died in 1959.
- Lionel BernsteinLionel BernsteinLionel "Rusty" Bernstein was a South African anti-apartheid activist and political prisoner.-Early life:Bernstein was born in Durban, the youngest of four children of Jewish émigrés from Europe. He was orphaned at eight years old, and brought up by relatives, after which he was sent to finish his...
, known as Rusty, Congress of the PeopleCongress of the PeopleThe Congress of the People met in Kliptown, Soweto, Johannesburg on June 26, 1955 to lay out the vision of the South African people. The Freedom Charter was the core statement of principles of the Congress Alliance, consisting of the African National Congress , the South African Indian Congress,...
and Congress of DemocratsCongress of DemocratsThe Congress of Democrats is a political party in Namibia, led by Ben Ulenga. It is an opposition party represented in the National Assembly.The party is an observer of the Socialist International.- 2004 elections :... - Moosa MoollaMoosa MoollaMoosa Moolla is an Indian South African activist and diplomat. A member of the African National Congress, Moolla was arrested and eventually found not guilty in the 1956 Treason Trial. In 1961, he was arrested and tried for incitement at the time of the May 1961 stay-at-home protest. In May 1963,...
, now ANC representative in India. - Moses KotaneMoses KotaneMoses Mauane Kotane was a South African politician and activist. Kotane was secretary general of the South African Communist Party from 1939 until his death in 1978.-Early life:...
, ANC delegate to the Asian-African Conference in Bandung - George PeakeGeorge PeakeGeorge Eden Frederick Peake was an English clergyman and cricketer who played first-class cricket for Somerset in 1885...
- Nimrod SejakeNimrod SejakeNimrod Sejake was a labor leader in South Africa in the 1950s. He was a leading member of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, initially as secretary of the Iron Steel Workers, and became active in the African National Congress in Soweto in the 1950s.He was one of the defendants during the...
- Vuyisile MiniVuyisile MiniVuyisile Mini was a unionist, Umkhonto we Sizwe activist, singer and one of the first African National Congress members to be executed by apartheid South Africa.- Early life :...
, Trade Union leader and musician - Yusuf DadooYusuf DadooYusuf Mohamed Dadoo was a Muslim Indian South African communist and anti-apartheid activist. In his life he was chair of both the South African Indian Congress and the South African Communist Party, as well as being a major proponent of cooperation between those organisations and the African...
, leader of the South African Indian CongressSouth African Indian CongressThe South African Indian Congress was an organization founded in 1924 in Natal , South Africa. The congress is famous for its strong participation by Mahatma Gandhi and other prominent South African Indian figures during the time. Umar Hajee Ahmed Jhaveri was elected the first president of the... - Z. K. MathewsZ. K. MathewsZachariah Keodirelang "ZK" Matthews was a prominent black academic in South Africa, lecturing at South African Native College , where many future leaders of the African continent were among his students....
, academic - Oliver TamboOliver TamboOliver Reginald Tambo was a South African anti-apartheid politician and a central figure in the African National Congress .-Biography:Oliver Tambo was born in Bizana in eastern Pondoland in what is now Eastern Cape...
, released for lack of evidence, goes into exile to coordinate the ANC from abroad. - Reggie September
- Piet Beyleveld
- M.B. Yengwa, Natal ANC
- Peter Nthite, ANC youth league
- Patrick Molaoa, ANC youth league
- Debi Singh, SAICSAICThe acronym SAIC can stand for:*Science Applications International Corporation*School of the Art Institute of Chicago*Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation*Shanghai Aviation Industrial Company*Special Agent in Charge, acronym used by some U.S...
- Arthur Letele
- Rev. James Calata
Lawyers for the defense included:
- Israel Maisels, sometimes known as Issy Maisels, led the defense team
- Sydney KentridgeSydney KentridgeSir Sydney Kentridge KCMG, QC is a prominent South African lawyer and member of the English Bar. He played a leading part in a number of the most significant political trials in apartheid-era South Africa, including the Stephen Biko inquest in 1977.-Education:Kentridge was born in 1922 in...
- Vernon Berrange
- G. Nicholas
- Rex Welsh
- Ruth HaymanRuth HaymanRuth Hayman was a lawyer and anti-apartheid campaigner. She was one of the first women in South Africa to qualify as an attorney. Through the Black Sash organisation, Hayman offered free legal advice to many people, usually women, who had approached the Black Sash Advice Centre in Johannesburg,...
- Bram FischerBram FischerAbram Louis Fischer, commonly known as Bram Fischer, was a South African lawyer of Afrikaner descent, notable for anti-apartheid activism and for the legal defence of anti-apartheid figures, including Nelson Mandela at the Rivonia Trial.-Tributes:Fischer is widely acknowledged as a key figure in...
- Norman Rosenberg
- Maurice Franks
- Joe SlovoJoe SlovoFor Joe Slovo Informal Settlement in Cape Town, see: Joe Slovo .Joe Slovo was a South African politician, long-time leader of the South African Communist Party , and leading member of the African National Congress.-Life:Slovo was born in Obeliai, Lithuania to a Jewish family who emigrated to South...
conducted his own defense - Nelson MandelaNelson MandelaNelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
and Duma NokweDuma NokwePhilemon Pearce Dumasile Nokwe was a South African freedom fighter....
conducted the defense during the state of the emergency after the Sharpeville MassacreSharpeville massacreThe Sharpeville Massacre occurred on 21 March 1960, at the police station in the South African township of Sharpeville in the Transvaal . After a day of demonstrations, at which a crowd of black protesters far outnumbered the police, the South African police opened fire on the crowd, killing 69...
, when the trialists instructed their defense lawyers to temporarily withdraw from the case
Other notable figures involved in the Treason Trial
Prosecutors included:- Van Niekerk, chief prosecutor
- Oswald PirowOswald PirowOswald Pirow was a South African lawyer and far right politician, who held office as minister of Justice and Defence.-Early life:...
(from January 1958 onwards) - De Vos, who replaced Pirow after his death in 1959
Judges included:
- Justice F.L. Rumpff, president, who was also a judge at the 1952 Defiance Trial
- Justice Kennedy
- Justice Ludorf, who withdrew when the defense argued he had a conflict of interest
- Justice Becker
Witnesses included:
- Professor Andrew Howson Murray, Department of Philosophy, University of Cape Town, brought in by the prosecution as an expert on communism.
Significance of the Trial
In many ways, the trial and prolonged periods in detention strengthened and solidified the relationships between members of the multi-racial Congress Alliance. Rusty Bernstein wrote:- "Inter-racial trust and cooperation is a difficult plant to cultivate in the poisoned soil outside. It is somewhat easier in here were ... the leaders of all ethnic factions of the movement are together and explore each other's doubts and reservations, ans speak about them without constraint Coexistance in the Drill Hall deepens and recreates their relationships."
The trial and resulting periods of detention also allowed ANC leaders to consult about the direction of their struggle and the possibility of armed struggle. Ironically, the court found that the ANC was nonviolent just as the ANC was starting to question the effectiveness of this strategy.
In court, the 156 defendants sat in alphabetical order, visibly displayed the multiracial nature of the anti-apartheid movement. While the defendants sat side by side in court, they were strictly segregated in jail. When the trialists took over their own defense during the State of Emergency, they eventually convinced prison authorities to let them meet to plan their defense and white female defendants, white male defendants and black women defendants were brought to the African men's prison. Yet the prison authorities still sought to physically separate these defendants by race and gender in their meeting space. Mandela describes the practical dilemma the proponents of apartheid faced:
- "The authorities erected an iron grille to separate HelenHelen JosephHelen Joseph , a South African anti-apartheid activist, was born in Easebourne near Midhurst West Sussex, England and graduated from King's College London, in 1927. After working as a teacher in India for three years, Helen came to South Africa in 1931, where she met and married Billie Joseph...
and Leon [Levy] (as whites) from us and a second partition to separate them from LilianLilian NgoyiLillian Masediba Ngoyi "Ma Ngoyi", , was a South African anti-apartheid activist. She was the first woman elected to the executive committee of the African National Congress, and helped launch the Federation of South African Women.Ngoyi joined the ANC Women's League in 1952; she was at that stage a...
and Bertha [Mashaba Gxowa] (as African women) ... Even a master architect would have had trouble designing such a structure.".
Trial Time Line
December 1956: 156 anti-apartheid leaders arrestedDecember 1956 - January 1958: Preparatory examination in a magistrates court to determine if there was sufficient evidence to warrant a trial.
November 1957: Prosecution rewords the indictment and proceeded a separate trial against 30 accused. The remaining 61 accused were to be tried separately before the case against them was dismissed in mid 1959.
August 1959: Trial against 30 defendants proceeds in the Supreme Court.
March 5, 1960: Chief Luthuli's testimony begins.
April 8, 1960: ANC is declared banned in the wake of the State of Emergence declared after the Sharpeville massacre
Sharpeville massacre
The Sharpeville Massacre occurred on 21 March 1960, at the police station in the South African township of Sharpeville in the Transvaal . After a day of demonstrations, at which a crowd of black protesters far outnumbered the police, the South African police opened fire on the crowd, killing 69...
. Defendants retained in custody for five months and trial resumes without lawyers for several months.
May 1960: Helen Joseph
Helen Joseph
Helen Joseph , a South African anti-apartheid activist, was born in Easebourne near Midhurst West Sussex, England and graduated from King's College London, in 1927. After working as a teacher in India for three years, Helen came to South Africa in 1931, where she met and married Billie Joseph...
and 21 left-wing white women detained during the State of Emergence embark on an eight day hunger strike. The children of detainees protest outside Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
city hall.
August 3, 1960: Mandela's testimony begins.
October 7, 1960: Defense closes.
March 23, 1961: Trial adjourned for a week.
March 29, 1961: Accused are found not guilty.