Rivonia Trial

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  • Trial between 1963 and 1964 in which ten leading members of the Congress Alliance were charged with sabotage and faced the death penalty. Named after the suburb of Rivonia, Johannesburg, where six members of the MK High Command were arrested at their hideout, Liliesleaf Farm, on 11 July 1963. Incriminating documents, including a proposal for a guerrilla insurgency named Operation Mayibuye, were seized. Mandela, who was already serving a sentence for incitement and leaving South Africa illegally, was implicated, and his notes on guerrilla warfare and his diary from his trip through Africa in 1962 were also seized. Rather than being cross-examined as a witness, Mandela made a statement from the dock on 20 April 1964. This became his famous ‘I am prepared to die’ speech. On 11 June 1964 eight of the accused were convicted by Justice Quartus de Wet at the Palace of Justice in Pretoria, and the next day were sentenced to life imprisonment.

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Govan Mbeki Papers

The personal papers of Govan Mbeki, including:
Part one of the State’s concluding address at the Rivonia Trial. A memorandum concerning prison conditions on Robben Island. Nelson Mandela’s 1996 address to the British parliament. Supreme court: Govan Mbeki and Nelson Mandela
Mandela visit to Tanzania 1990

Mbeki, Govan Archibald Mvuyelwa

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