Collection 578 - Criminal Court Case No. 253/1963 (State Versus N Mandela and Others)

The Rivonia Trial was the first time that the state used its powers under the Acts, that banned the African National Congress (ANC) and the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) in 1960, to arrest and prosecute the top leadership structure of the largest internal anti-apartheid organisation involved in the struggle for a democratic South Africa. This trial gave Nelson Mandela the opportunity to proclaim the aim and goal of the ANC from the dock to the public at large. The court case led to the imprisonment of leaders such as Nelson Mandela on Robben Island and other prisons until their release in 1990.