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Archival description
Rivonia Trial English
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Criminal Court Case No. 253/1963 (The State versus N Mandela and Others)

  • ZA NARSSA MR-RT-093
  • Collection
  • 1963 - 1964
  • Part of Rivonia Trial

The records of the Supreme Court of South Africa (Transvaal Provincial Division) on the proceedings of the Rivonia Trial. Transferred to National Archives in 1994. Incomplete on transfer. Existent records are:

File cover with handwritten notes, including the sentences that were passed. The clerk of the court recorded the sentences that were passed together with the names of the accused on the cover of a file in blue ink.

Extracts of evidence by state witnesses (3 vols). These volumes include records by the attorney for the accused, Mr. B Fischer, applying for the postponement of the proceedings and the reply by Dr Yutar, the State’s main prosecutor. Further records include the verbatim transcriptions of evidence given by state witnesses.

Evidence for defence (1 vol.). Include verbatim transcriptions of evidence given by Ahmed Kathrada, Raymond Mhlaba, Lionel Bernstein and Govan Mbeki.

Rivonia Exhibits (1 vol.). The exhibits include documents seized by the police at Liliesleaf and deals with topics such as the Transkei; Operation Mayibuye; the new draft programme of the South African Communist Party (SACP); names and addresses of ANC and SACP members; a copy of Sibanye, a newsletter; documents discussing problems in the democratic movement, the Nationalists invasion scare, the general predictions for 1963; handwritten notes on freedom movements elsewhere in Africa; an article by E Rosenthal on General De Wet; a syllabus on the fundamental principles of Marxism; a pamphlet named 'A Call to the Youth'; a manual on rock blasting; the rules of the SACP; sketch of Tunisia; handwritten notes on the Kenya Youth Wing Organisations; SACP newsletter on the China/India border dispute; statement by the SACP on conditions in South Africa; document on the differences in the communist movement; invoices from Ace Auto electricians; press statement by Nelson Mandela on 26 June 1961.

State’s Concluding Address (4 vols). These volumes are divided into three parts. The first part deals with a factual analysis of documentary exhibits handed in, and of oral testimony given, by state witnesses. Part two deals with a factual analysis of the documentary exhibits handed in, and of the oral testimony given, by state witnesses (continued). The third part deals with the Rivonia exhibits.

Two volumes consisting of Judge’s remarks in passing sentence; the Attorney General for the Transvaal’s statement explaining which of the accused was found guilty of what offences; a part of the judgement and verbatim transcriptions of the court proceedings

Judgement (1 vol.).

Dictabelts covering the whole case (8 vols). These are digitised and accessible from NARSSA.

These records, together with the Prosecution Records received from Brenthurst Library, will at some stage become one group.

Department of Justice

British Library Newspaper Collection

Collections includes all UK national daily and Sunday newspapers from 1801 to the present, most UK and Irish regional and local newspapers, selected newspapers from around the world in European languages, a range of UK and Irish popular periodicals, mostly published weekly and fortnightly.

These would include coverage of the Rivonia Trial.

British Library

African Activist Archive

  • US AI002 MR-RT-140
  • Collection
  • 1950 - 1999
  • Part of Rivonia Trial

Gathered from various repositories and private sources to preserve records and memories of activism in the United States in support of the struggles of African peoples against colonialism, apartheid, and social injustice from the 1950s through the 1990s.

A search for Rivonia Trial material yields:
-Photographs of demonstrations outside the South African Consulate in New York protesting the outcome of the Rivonia Trial (from private collections and American Committee on Africa)
-Buttons: "Free Motsoaledi", "Free Kathrada" "Free Mandela", "Happy birthday Motsoaledi" (from Netherlands Institute for Southern Africa)

African Activist Archive Project

International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF) Papers: Rivonia Trial

  • ZA UWCRIMA MR-RT-081
  • Collection
  • 1963 - 1989
  • Part of Rivonia Trial

File: Rivonia Trial correspondence, statements, finance etc:
-Correspondence by Bram Fischer to Canon Collins and vice versa re: the guilty verdict and responding to the messages of sympathy on death of Molly Fischer.
File: Rivonia Trial 1963-1964
-Walter Sisulu statement on which his evidence was led with handwritten annotations
-Press clippings
-Walter Sisulu: extracts of evidence: Examination by Bram Fischer and cross examination by Percy Yutar
-Extracts of evidence by Govan Mbeki
-Notes made by Govan Mbeki regarding his interrogation whilst under 90 day detention.
-Ahmed Kathrada: extract of evidence examination by Vernon Berrange
-Elias Motsoaledi statement at the Trial
-Lionel Bernstein extracts of some evidence: cross examination by Percy Yutar
-Pamphlet entitled " My fight is for all: Mandela tells court of ANC objectives" extracts of Mandela's statement from the dock as printed by the Rand Daily Mail

File: Collins2/6 mainly concerning the Rivonia Trial (1964):
-Handwritten notes
-Correspondence . Correspondence include Freda Nuell, J Hadebe, Canon Collins, E.S. Reddy, Hugh Lewin, Joel Joffe Raymond Kunene, Rica Hogdson
-Typescript- biography of Nelson Mandela
-Draft articles concerning the imprisonment of Mandela and the Rivonia Trialists
-Rivonia Trial - statements of accounts and annexure of monies received
-Decision by Trialists not to appeal against their sentence
-Statements against the Rivonia Trial sentences by Canon Collins and others
-Christian Action article entitled " Mandela: a message from prison"
-Press statements on the sentence issued by the Africa Bureau and by Canon Collins
-Correspondence concerning the sentencing
-Typescript of Mandela statement from the dock " Why I am ready to die" with original annotations
-Articles on the Rivonia Trial
-Statement issued by Mr. Tom Kellosk at a press conference called by Christian Action January 15 1964 concerning the Rivonia Trial
-Statement by Canon Collins on behalf of Christian Action
-Anti- Apartheid Movement profile of Mandela and reproductive extracts from his statement from the dock
-Notes for adverts and letters re: Rivonia Trial

Also includes:
-Typescripts of draft articles on the Rivonia Trial some of them written by E.S. (Solly) Sachs
-A pamphlet entitled the " Message of Rivonia"

Not available for inspection at time of this audit.

International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF)

Mandela Materials Database

The Mandela Materials Database is a guide to the Mandela archive located with the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory and Dialogue and elsewhere. Both local and international repositories have been surveyed for any material on Mr Mandela to include in the database. The purpose of this database is to point researchers to the relevant repositories holding the actual archival material. Although much of the material identified in the database does not relate directly to the Rivonia Trial, it has been referenced here as Mandela was one of the main protagonists in the Rivonia Trial. Any material directly related to the Rivonia Trial as been cross-referenced in this database.

Nelson Mandela Foundation (NMF)

Rivonia Trial

  • MR-RT
  • Record Group
The Rivonia Trial, arguably the most significant political trial in South African history, generated a vast archive, ranging from the official court records to media coverage of the trial. This database, and the records audit on which it is built, constitutes a first step towards documenting the archive. The need for the database was determined by the fragmentary and scattered nature of the archive.

Nelson Mandela Foundation (NMF)

Rivonia Trial

Partial record of the State versus Nelson Mandela and nine others. Bound volumes. Provenance unknown. Contains: State's Concluding Address (volumes 1-4): vol.1: A factual analysis of the documentary exhibits handed in and of the oral testimony given, by the state witnesses, vol.2: The persons who were parties to the conspiracy and the implementation thereof, vol.3: n Kritiese ontleding van sekere dokumentere bewysstukke, vol.4: A factual analysis of the defence case and of the further documentary exhibits produced in the course thereof; and Judgement and Sentence (1 volume).

Department of Justice

Records of the ANC French Mission

Video on the history of the ANC, 1949-1960s, entitled Viva Mandela that refers to Rivonia Trial.

African National Congress (ANC) French Mission

Records of ANC Australia Mission

Audiocassettes of Govan Mbeki, Paul Murphy and Nelson Mandela (date unclear).

Also videos that make reference to Rivonia Trial:
-Generations of Resistance
-I Shall Never Lose Hope - interview with Winnie Mandela
-Spear of the Nation - a history of the ANC

African National Congress (ANC) Australia Mission

Records of the Foreign Office: Export of Arms to South Africa: Internal Security Operations: Rivonia Sabotage Trial of ANC Leaders

These records fall under: Foreign Office: Political Departments: General Correspondence; Africa, West and Central (J): South Africa (JS) subseries.

Contains:
-The escape of Bob Hepple (telegram, 28 November 1963)
-Prison conditions with affidavits from Bernstein, Goldberg, Motsoaledi, Mbeki, Kathrada and Sisulu (report, 21 November 1963)
-Newspaper articles on the Rivonia trial (November and December 1963)
-Note from Mitford to the British Consulate General requesting that political trials that might seriously impact the Rivonia Trial to be closely monitored (5 December 1963)
-Visit by John Arnold Q.C. a leading conservative barrister in London (includes a summary of proceedings, 13 December 1963)
-Arrest, assault and torture of Isaac Tlale of the ANC at the hands of security police who wanted him to testify against the Rivonia accused. Police claimed to him that Joe Slovo bought Mandela and Sisulu with money from the communists (report/affidavit, no date)
-Report of John Arnold Q.C. at the International Commission of Jurists on his visit to South Africa and includes a comment that he believed the Rivonia trial judge was fair and partial (16 December 1963)
-Nelson Mandela's life sentence: reactions (1963)
-Foreign reaction to the Rivonia trial judgment and sentences
-Statement in parliament by H.F. Verwoerd (16 June 1964)
-Rivonia trial judgment (correspondence and press cuttings)
-Rivonia trial sentence (summary from press articles 1964)
-Question whether the British government should ask the South African government to reduce the life sentences handed down in the Rivonia trial (Correspondence, 26 June 1964)
-Libyan embassy in London will ask the UK secretary of state to intervene and have the Rivonia trial life sentences reduced (report, 15 June 1964)
-The U.S. state department will not ask for a reduction in the Rivonia trial (correspondence Internal British foreign office, (27 June 1964)
-Secretary of the state talking about the Rivonia (speech house of Commons, July 1964)
-The Canadian Ambassador asks that the Rivonia trial sentences be reduced (report, 22 July 1964)
-Rivonia trial accused decide not to appeal (report, 27 July 1964)
-The German government approaches South Africa about the Rivonia trial sentences (report, 2 September 1964)
-Book on Rivonia trial by Judge De Villiers (Report 24 September 1964)
-Death sentence in Rivonia trial "unlikely" (note, 4 June 1964)
-Upcoming judgement and sentence in the Rivonia trial (note , 2 June 1964)
-The Australian representative to South Africa has been instructed to register his government's concern over the Rivonia trial (note, 9 June 1964)
-U.K. should abstain in the vote on the Rivonia resolution by Ivory Coast and Morocco unless is amended (America will also abstain) (note, 10 June 1964)
-Verdicts in Rivonia Trial (telegram, 11 June 1964)
-Analysis of evidence at the Rivonia Trial (report, 10 June 1964)
-Decision to defer any attempt by the U.S. to get a reduction in Rivonia Trial sentences until the defence has lodged an appeal (note, 14 June 1964)
-Unsigned copy of the Rivonia trial judgement (15 June 1964)

UK Foreign Office

Times Media Collection

Black and white negatives from Rand Daily Mail and Sunday Times newspapers. Selected prints also available. Rivonia Trial photographs consists of: police roadblocks stopping people on their way to hear judgement (11 June 1964); crowds outside the court awaiting judgement; Winnie Mandela, Albertina Sisulu, Mandela's mother, Leslie Minford, Annie Goldberg, Hilda Bernstein arriving to hear judgement (11 June 1964); police and Winnie Mandela outside the courtroom, pictures of the accused (Mandela, Sisulu, Mhlaba, Mlangeni, Motsoaledi, Bernstein, Hepple, Kathrada, Mbeki, Goldberg) and others (Ben Turok, Moses Kotane, J B Marks, Tennyson Makiwane, Dr Arthur Letele, Joe Slovo). Also one picture of police at Liliesleaf Farm (PH2003-773).

Rand Daily Mail

National Public Broadcasting Archives

Programmes and programme segments broadcast on National Public Radio. Includes reports on the following:
-Restoration of Mandela’s 1964 Rivonia Trial speech by the British Library.
-Death of South African anti-apartheid leader, Walter Sisulu, at the age of ninety.
-Audio history of Mandela’s life premiered on NPR programme All Things Considered in week April 26-30 2004.

National Public Radio

Reddy (ES) Papers

The papers consist of correspondence and printed material relating to South Africa and Namibia and document E. S. Reddy's work with anti-apartheid organizations around the world.
Subject file entitled "Rivonia Trial 1964" (Box 7, folder 342).

Reddy, Enuga S.

Pamphlet Collection

A collection of pamphlets from African, South American, Latin American, Asian, European, and North American countries which include material relating to politics, economics, social conditions, agriculture, legal topics, religious activities, history, government operations, education, and other areas. The collection is particularly strong in the area of African materials, with several nations represented. This collection is keyworded as containing Rivonia Trial material but the references are unclear.

Records of the American Committee on Africa (ACOA)

Documents the pioneering anti-apartheid group in the US from its establishment in the 1950s. Documents related to Rivonia Trial are:
-Campaign against South African Apartheid: Memos, draft letters to and lists of sponsors, resolutions and declarations, flyers, clippings and notes 1963 (1960-1964). Major topics: Appeal for action against Apartheid, Rivonia arrests and trials, international boycott of South African goods etc.
-African National Congress Pamphlets. Includes: South African on Trial: Behind the Rivonia Case (no date).
-Mandela, Nelson (ca. 1964). Major topic: Rivonia trial.
-World Campaign for the Release of South African Political Prisoners: Rivonia Trial: Newsletters, statements, press releases, brochure (1963-1964).
-Writings: Chief Albert Luthuli (1957 and 1964). Major topics: Racial situation, Rivonia trial, ANC.
-Writings: Nelson Mandela (1961 and 1964). Major topics: 1961 Stay-at-home demonstration, Rivonia trial.

Microfilm versions available at Manuscripts and Archives, University of Cape Town.

American Committee on Africa

Papers of Stephen Clingman Relating to Bram Fischer

The papers were collected by Stephen Clingman while researching his biography entitled "Bram Fischer: Afrikaner Revolutionary" (1998). They are mainly photocopies of correspondence and newspaper cuttings.

The Rivonia Trial material appears in section relating to legal and political cases in which Bram Fischer was involved (boxes 20-21), Shelfmark: MSS. Afr. S. 2444 / 21, 1 box (285 folios):
fols. 1-157) the Rivonia Trial (1963-6). Includes newspaper cuttings and typescripts entitled:
-Operation Mayibuye'
-'The Voice of the African National Congress'
-'A Call To The Youth' (issued by the Johannesburg District of the South African Communist Party)

Clingman, Stephen

Archive of the Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM)

Archive of the Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM) and predecessor material including the Boycott Movement. Material directly related to the Rivonia Trial includes:
O.7 Political Prisoners Campaigns, 1956-95:
-O.7.1.b Correspondence, 1962-70: Correspondence concerning the Rivonia trialists and other condemned South African leaders, 1964 (MSS AAM 1791)
-O.7.5.e General files, 1961-95: Information on the Rivonia trial and trialists, 1963-90 (MSS AAM 1953)

W.2 African National Congress (ANC) posters, 1978-95:
'We salute our leaders. Sentenced to life imprisonment. Rivonia 1963. Mandela, Sisulu, Mbeki, Mhlaba, Motsoaledi, Mlangeni, Kathrada, Goldberg.' 1980s? Mainly black and white; photographs (MSS AAM 2512/2/4), 1 poster

Rivonia Trial references might also appear in other parts of this collection for example, the campaigns the AAM took relating to the Trial might appear in the minutes of the Executive Committee and in annual reports.

British Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM)

Mandela Manuscripts

Presented to Lloyd Cutler by South Africa’s Chief Justice Arthur Chaskalson in 1997. Lloyd Cutler was founding partner of the WilmerHale Law Firm and a civil rights activist in the US. They were to recognise the firm's role in the fight to end Apartheid.

Papers include transcripts of his speech at the 1963-64 Rivonia Trial, notes that Mandela made in his own handwriting both during his trial and as he sat in prison on the night before he heard the sentence on his life. These are copies of originals donated by President Mandela to Bram Fischer Library (now held at Historical Papers, University of Witwatersrand).

Untitled

South Africa: The Making of US Policy: 1962-1989

This collection provides primary source documents describing U.S. relationships to apartheid including implementation, enforcement, and violations of the U.N-sponsored sanctions against South Africa. Including the following that relate to the Rivonia Trial:
-United States Embassy (South Africa) reports that the African National Congress (ANC) was created to carry out sabotage, stating that the arrest of Nelson Mandela occurred after he planned subversive activities (1962).
-A memorandum issued by the Summit Conference of Independent African States held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (1963), agreeing to provide funding to help South African liberation movements and calling for the release from prison of Nelson Mandela, Robert Sobukwe and all other political prisoners.
-A memorandum on the Rivonia Trial providing biographical information on the Rivonia Trialists, and in which Nelson Mandela argues that opposition groups resorted to armed struggle only after avenues for peaceful change were blocked (1964).
-A report in which ANC and Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) leaders, including Nelson Mandela, Michael Harmel and Walter Sisulu are described as Communists, and documents presented during the Rivonia Trial are cited as evidence of the contacts between the ANC, PAC, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Communist Party of the People's Republic of China (1964).
-A memorandum of conversation in which Cecil Eprile characterises black leaders like Nelson Mandela as careless and prone to bad judgment (1965).
-A cable relating to Resolution 473 of the United Nations Security Council urging South Africa to release all political prisoners, including Nelson Mandela (1980).
-Biographic sketch information on Nelson Mandela provided by the US Department of State (1983).
-A cable on the awarding of the international Simon Bolivar prize to Nelson Mandela by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) (1983).
-Correspondence to the South African Ambassador to the United States, calling for the release of Nelson Mandela (1984).
- A cable about the Johannesburg Star Newspaper reports that the arrest of Nelson Mandela 25 years ago occurred after he was betrayed by a US Central Intelligence Agency agent posing as a diplomat of the United States Consulate General in Durban (1986).
- A statement in which Chester A. Crocker calls for the release of Nelson Mandela (1986).
- A report in which the US Department of State Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on South Africa asserts that the first steps taken by South Africa must be the release of Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki and all other political prisoners (1987).

The National Security Archive is a non-profit research institute and library providing public access to declassified government documents obtained through the U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). These are then published as declassified document sets (as this one on South Africa), are produced in microfiche, and digitised to become part of the Digital National Security Archive database which some universities subscribe to (Monash University in South Africa).

US State Department

Africana Collection

The Library collection of roughly 200,000 books, pamphlets, maps and microform units covers all areas and disciplines. There is an emphasis on the socio-economic development and history of sub-Saharan Africa, with special emphases (reflecting faculty interests) on Ethiopia/Eritrea, Zimbabwe, South Africa, the Sahel region of West Africa, and Nigeria (especially the Eastern Region).

Materials related to the Rivonia Trial include:
- A number of video recordings relating to the life story of Nelson Mandela and thus mentioning the Rivonia Trial in the Audio-Visual Materials on Africa
-Microform and photocopies of Kathrada Collection (originals at UWC-Robben Island Mayibuye Centre) in Special Collections. Over 100 fiche in 13 boxes. DT1949.K38A4 1996; also on film: SPEC COLL RARE BOOKS XX 27823 Microfilm. Guide (1995) available at DT1949.K38S35 1995
-The Voice of Nelson Mandela (SABC, 1999), which includes extracts from the Statement from the Dock. In general library holdings (MSU DIGITAL/MEDIA AUDIODISC, 4 WEST - PT1974 .M36 1999 Audio disc)

Untitled

Rivonia Trial

Records of the State versus Nelson Mandela and nine others. Contains: the first and second indictments, bail applications, opening address, index to state witnesses and exhibits. The records of state witnesses are: general, from East London and from Port Elizabeth. Also contains the opening address of the defence, Mandela's statement from the dock, the argument by the state, analysis of defence evidence, the judgement, evidence in mitigation of sentencing and judgement on sentence.

Department of Justice

Toni Strassburg Papers

  • ZA UWCRIMA MR-RT-064
  • Collection
  • 1950 - 1960
  • Part of Rivonia Trial

One folder of press cuttings on Treason Trial, bannings and arrests, and Rivonia Trial. Rivonia Trial reports in New York Times and South African newspapers. Also article on Bernstein escape after rearrest after acquittal and escape of Wolpe and Goldreich.

Strassburg, Toni

Sunday Times Heritage Project

Online selection of images and caption stories from the pages of the Sunday Times including the following from Rivonia Trial:
-ANC, POQO, Spear, smashed says Col. V.d, Bergh (14 July 1963) re arrests at Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia
-Rivonia: The Inside Story (14 June 1964) re outcome of the Trial
Sunday Times newspapers can also be accessed at the National Library in Pretoria and Cape Town.

Sunday Times

Rivonia Trial, 1963-1964

This South African material at this repository was collected by Thomas Karis for "From Protest to Challenge" and is in the Karis-Gerhart Collection of South African Political Trials. It contains the following on the Rivonia Trial:
-MF-451 Neg. MF: Rivonia Sabotage Trial: Not an official transcript. File consists of defence attorney's detailed notes on transcript, analyses of evidence and exhibits. Also includes the indictment. 4 reels
-MF-2611 Neg. MF-966: The Rivonia Trial, J G Joffe and M Koff. Microfilm of typescript. 1 reel.
-MF-10791 reel 35 item 6: Rivonia: Operation Mayibuye: A Review of the Rivonia Trial, H H W de Villiers with a foreward by Francis Napier Broome.

Untitled

Canada and the Fight Against Apartheid

  • CA CBC-DA MR-RT-145
  • Collection
  • 1960 - 1999
  • Part of Rivonia Trial

Series of radio and television reports on South Africa broadcast from the 1960s through the first democratic elections in 1994. Items related to the Rivonia Trial are:
-Escaped lawyer describes apartheid's brutal laws (from CBC Radio, Nov. 17, 1964): Harold Wolpe defended oppressed blacks until he was imprisoned. Guest: Harold Wolpe, host: Bob Wilson, narrator: Paul Wright, duration: 25:57
-Mandela and seven colleagues sentenced colleagues sentenced (from CBC Radio, National Radio News, June 12, 1964): Reporter Patrick Keatley is in London to explain why the defendants likely avoided a death sentence. Host: Alex Trebek, reporter: Patrick Keatley, duration: 2:58.

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)

Mary Benson Papers

  • GB ULSOAS MR-RT-147
  • Collection
  • 1946 - 1974
  • Part of Rivonia Trial

The sections of the collection related to the Rivonia Trial are press cuttings concerning political protest, especially the Treason and Rivonia Trials c 1958-1962. Related collection also at Institute of Commonwealth Studies, London University.

Benson, Mary

National Archives and Records Administration Records: Department of State and Embassies in Southern Africa

The documents related to the Rivonia Trial described below are from Record Group 59 which reflects the diplomatic work of the Department of State and embassies in southern Africa, particularly in South Africa. References to these records were identified, inventoried and made searchable as part of the South African Research and Archival Project (SARAP) at Howard University in Washington, D.C. designed to identify, locate, inventory and disseminate information pertaining to the involvement of Americans in the liberation struggle of South Africans, especially during the anti-apartheid movement. The records themselves can only be accessed at the National Archives repository listed below. These may not be a comprehensive listing of all State Department records related to the Rivonia Trial.

Box 2637: Political 30-2 S AFR: Documents pertaining to various individuals and organizations, including ANC, UNIAS, OAU, African Liberation Committee [ALC], PAFMECA, ANC, SWAPO, SWANU, and PAC. A report on ANC's statement on the Rivonia Trial and a PAC representative in Ghana, Matthew Nkoana. Airgram memoranda with the following subjects, "First Issue of Pan Africanist Congress Information Bulletin," "ANC Statement on Rivonia Trial Verdict," "Report on Political Exiles from South and South-West Africa," and "Representative of Pan Africanist Congress Begins Writing for Ghanaian Newspaper" (1964-1966). Discussed or referenced: James Hadebe, Jacob, Nyoase, E.L. Ntloedibe, Raymond Kunene, Robert Resha, Tennyson Makewane, Jacob Nyoase, Colin Legum, Jariretundu Kozunguizi, Sam Nujoma, and John Eldridge of the African-American Institute.
Box 2636: POL 29 S AFR 8/1/64: Documents pertaining to the Rivonia Trial, including a memorandum of conversation with Abraham Fischer, Attorney General for convicted saboteurs; kidnapping of Rosemary Wentzel from Swaziland to South Africa; Eastern Cape communism trial of 74 Africans; and sentencing of Pascal Ngcane, Chief Albert Luthuli's Son-in-Law.
Box 2636:POL 29 S AFR 6/1/64: Documents pertaining mostly to the Rivonia Trial; reactions from around the world on the trial, including protests from the US National Council of Churches and ANC statement from Tanzania on the trial; criticism from Jomo Kenyatta of Britain and US support for South Africa.
Box 2636: POL 29 Arrests, Detention S AFR 5/1/64: Documents pertaining to trials and detentions in South Africa including the Rivonia trial and detention of Chief Albert Luthuli; mentioned in the reports include Raymond Mhlaba, Ahmed Kathrada, Walter Sisulu and Lionel Bernstein; a report on a Nigerian government official regarding problems that would erupt if Mandela and others were given death sentences; a letter to the President of the UN Special Committee on Apartheid regarding trials in South Africa and memorandum on the reply from the President. A confidential memorandum and report on "The Apartheid Trials in South Africa," including a discussion of the Rivonia Trial. Several telegrams concerning the Rivonia trial. Discussed or referenced: Govan Mbeki, Albert Luthuli, Nelson Mandela, Lionel Bernstein, Ahmed Mohamed Kathrada, Walter Sisulu, African National Congress, the Pan Africanist Congress, and the Communist Party of South Africa. A telegram with abridged statistics on black and white land use, salaries, malnutrition, and morbidity in South Africa. (1963).

US State Department

The National Security File: Country File: Africa, Union of South Africa

The National Security File was the working file of President Johnson's special assistants for national security affairs, McGeorge Bundy and Walt W Rostow.
Vol. 1, 11/63 - 10/64; vol. 2, 11/64 - 9/66; vol. 3, 10/66 - 9/68 contain scattered references to the Rivonia Trial.

This repository may include other references to the Rivonia Trial in Presidential correspondence, National Security Memoranda, White House Central Files, Office Files of White House Aides. These were not confirmed in this audit.

Johnson, Lyndon B.

Records of ANC Morogoro Office

Four publications relate to the Rivonia Trial:
-On Trial for Their Lives, Mary Benson, 1965
-Reasons for Plunging South Africa into Guerrilla Warfare, Walter Sisulu, 1964
-On Violence in South Africa, Ahmed Kathrada, 1964
(all Box 18, folder 167)
-An Afrikaner against Apartheid, Bram Fischer, 1966 (Box 8, folder 69)

African National Congress (ANC) Morogoro Office

UK: London: Anti-Apartheid Meeting Raises Funds For New World Campaign

Reuters programme from 28 February 1964 re "Torture in South Africa" - a meeting held in London to protest against Apartheid. Admission fees for the meeting went to new organisations "The World Campaign for the Release of South African Political Prisoners" formed after Rivonia Trial.

ITN Source represents the footage libraries of Reuters (including historic newsreel collections), ITN, ITV Productions, Fox News and Fox Movietone, Channel 9 News, UTV, Asian News International and other specialist collections.

Reuters

Magnus Gunther Collection

Collection contains research for book he intended to write on the National Committee for Liberation (NCL)/African Resistance Movement (ARM). The book was not completed before his death. Four items in the collection relate to the Rivonia Trial:
PC170/7/3/3/3: Copy of interview with Bob Hepple by Lt. Swanepoel, Lt. van Wyk and D/Seargent van Zyl at the Grays, Johannesburg (9-8-63). Hepplie furnished information to these three on three conditions: 1. Information would not be used against him in any prosecution; 2. He would not be used as a State Witness; 3. He would be protected from disclosure as a source of information.
PC170/7/3/3/4: Copy of notes on Bob Hepple (in Afrikaans)
PC170/7/3/2/14: Copy of interview with Denis Goldberg by Howard Barrell, London, 7 February 1990
PC170/7/3/2/16: Copy from National Archives of a classified telegram (now declassified)) from Department of State Control no. 14548. Summary of information on Denis Goldberg, 19 May 1964

Gunther, Magnus

UK: Protest Against South African Sabotage Trial Sentence - Petition for United Nations

Reuters programme from 15 June 1964 re Mr Butler, Britain's Foreign Secretary, telling that the South African government were aware of British government's objection to the Rivonia Trial but that the matter should not be taken further while there was still a question about whether they would appeal. Also re petition to the UN calling for release of all political prisoners in South Africa.

ITN Source represents the footage libraries of Reuters (including historic newsreel collections), ITN, ITV Productions, Fox News and Fox Movietone, Channel 9 News, UTV, Asian News International and other specialist collections.

Reuters

South African Documents and Press Clippings Collection

Documents and press clippings concerning various topics related to South African politics and government. Includes press clippings on four political trials: Bram Fischer Trial, Rivonia Trial, Trial of 22, Breyten Breytenbach Trial.

Untitled

National Intelligence Agency Archive

Inventory accessed contains one manuscript (bound photocopy in three parts) in Nelson Mandela's handwriting: "How to be a Good Communist; Dialectical Materialism; Political Economy". Preceding the manuscript are two pages from Mandela's Statement from the Dock (pages 45 and 46) and a photocopy of a sub-file indicating what the manuscript is about and that is was seizd at Rivonia.

There may be other records related to the Rivonia Trial in this archive

Untitled

Papers of Sir Patrick Wall

  • US UHBJL MR-RT-149
  • Collection
  • 1890 - 1992
  • Part of Rivonia Trial

Sir Patrick was Vice Chairman of the British Section of the Inter Parliamentary Union (1974 - 1984) and Chairman of the British Bahrain, British Maltese, British South Africa and British Taiwan Groups. He represented Britain at the 17th General Assembly of the United Nations in 1962. The introduction of the General Law Amendment Act, the Rivonia Trials and the United Nations conference on sanctions are some of the more significant topics on which files were accumulated in the early 1960s [DPW/48/484; 487; 486 & 488].

Wall, Patrick

The Guardian and the Observer Digital Archive

This archive will eventually contain the digital reproduction of every page, article and advert published in the Guardian (since 1821) and the Observer (since 1791). Currently it is up to 2000. A search for Rivonia Trial reveals articles from both newspapers.

Guardian

Digital Innovation South Africa (DISA)

DISA is a freely accessible online scholarly resource focusing on the socio-political history of South Africa, particularly the struggle for freedom during the period from 1950 to the first democratic elections in 1994.

A search for 'The State versus Nelson Mandela' yields the following scanned documents:
Bruno Mtolo's extract of evidence (vol. 15 and vol. 16), Walter Sisulu's extract of evidence (vol. 20), Ahmed Kathrada's extract of evidence (vol. 24), Raymond Mhlaba's extract of evidence (vol. 25), Lionel Bernstein's extract of evidence (vol. 26), Govan Mbeki's extract of evidence (vol. 28), judgement, judge's remarks when passing sentence. These documents were selected and scanned from the collection at Historical Papers, University of Witwatersrand (AD1844).

A search for 'Rivonia Trial' yields a poster (linked from SAHA Poster Collection entry) and an extract from the Rivonia Trial Statement made by Nelson Mandela which appeared in the journal Dawn (Volume 7 Number 6 June 1983 page 20). There are other articles too which make mention of the significance of the Trial in passing, mostly from the African Communist magazine.

Digital Innovation South Africa (DISA)

Nelson Mandela Collection

The records of the Office of the ANC President were initially listed so that they could be used to complete the writing of Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom. They were sent to his house in Houghton, and were returned to the ANC in 2004. The records cover the period from the time Nelson Mandela was ANC Deputy President (1990), ANC President (1991) to the time when he stepped down as ANC President (1997). It also however includes the few 1998-1999 records that were generated. The Nelson Mandela collection is divided into the following main series: Correspondence, Discussion Documents, Minutes of meeting, Reports, Statements, ANC departments, ANC Mission offices, ANC structures, Embassies, Negotiation/Elections, Organizations, Notebooks, Publications, Manuscripts, Memorabilia, and Braille material.

Although this collection does not relate to the Rivonia Trial, it has been included as it speaks to the post-prison involvement of the Trial's main accused.

Mandela, Nelson Rolihlahla

Cape Argus/Cape Times Clippings Collection

Newspaper clippings in subject files were created by Cape Times and Cape Argus newspapers and transferred to the National Library.

Subject entries under 53138 Treason Trials 1961-1970 for Cape Argus and Treason 1963 may have items relating to the Rivonia Trial.

Cape Times

Mandela

Political biography of Nelson Mandela and his unique role in the liberation struggle in South Africa. Includes archive material of the Treason trial, the Rivonia trial and a filmed interview while underground. Directed by Lionel Ngakane and Niven Howie. Produced by Divemay Films. Edited by Julia Beer.

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ICFTU Archives

Working papers of The International Confederation of Trade Unions. Rivonia Trial related records:
4873 Correspondence concerning the Rivonia trial. 1963-1965. 1 folder.
4874-4875 Correspondence concerning the Treason Trials. Including correspondence with the South Africa Defence and Aid Fund. 1956-1969. 2 folders.
48741956-1962. 48751963-1969.

International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU)

Interview with Nelson Mandela

Part of Kairos collection.
Sound for film. Interview with Nelson Mandela re Rivonia trial (amongst other topics) in Dutch (?)

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Life Under Apartheid Collection

The programmes and documents in this collection illustrate what life was like for ordinary South Africans under Apartheid, as well as documenting key political moments.

Items related directly to the Rivonia Trial:
-BBC Television programme: Panorama: Race Problems Around the World. The documentary deals with the growth of racial tension in the Britain and the USA as Mandela is imprisoned for life. This programme was first broadcast on 15 June 1964. 50 minutes, 25 seconds in length. Contains a report by Robin Day from Pretoria where Mandela and others have been sentenced in the Rivonia Trial. Includes interviews with those who condemn the trial and sentencing: Helen Suzman, Alan Paton, Winnie Mandela.
-Letter from a cameraman about "Panorama" programme (28 June 19964). This letter was sent by Ernest Christie to the series producer David Wheeler on South African press reaction to Robin Day's segment in the "Panorama: Race Problems Around the World" which he had filmed.

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Mandela Trials Papers

Photocopies of papers collected by Joel Joffe, lawyer acting for Nelson Mandela, relating to Mandela's trial in Pretoria (1962) and the Rivonia Trial (1963-1964); including Mandela's application to have the Pretoria trial postponed, October 1962; Mandela's address to the court in mitigation of the sentence of five years imprisonment, detailing his political commitment and activities in the African National Congress (ANC), November 1962; copy of the indictment in the Rivonia Trial, initial statement made by Mandela to his lawyers, giving details of his early life; notes by Mandela on his life and ANC association; copy of Mandela's statement from the dock, signed by Mandela, manuscript notes by Mandela to use if he were sentenced to death, and manuscript notes by Mandela referring to the tribal council called Imbizo.

Joffe, Joel

Africana Video Collection

A number of video recordings relating to the life story of Nelson Mandela and thus mentioning the Rivonia Trial. Including:
-Mandela (968 M271Zma), vhs, 135 minutes; c1987; directed by Philip Saville. Contains a dramatic reenactment of his unjust trial for treason, lengthy imprisonment.
-Mandela: The First Accused (968 M271Zmandl), vhs, 109 minutes; 1999; director, Clifford Bestall; producers, Indra de Lanerolle, David Fanning.

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South African Trials

Transcripts of political cases.
Peripherally related to the Rivonia Trial is File 4: Inquest to establish cause of death of Looksmart Ngudle. It contains: transcript of complete proceedings. Pretoria, 21st Oct. 1963 - 23rd Dec. 1963. Looksmart Ngudle, a ninety-day detainee held under the Sabotage Act, was found dead, hanging in his cell at Pretoria Central Police Station, on September 5th, after 16 days in detention. He had been arrested in Cape Town and was found in possession of a firearm and some African National Congress leaflets. The four witnesses, held at the same time as Ngudle, said when cross-examined by the Defence that they had been tortured with electric shocks and severe beatings. One said that he was forced to sign a statement claiming that Ngudle was an important Umkonto we Sizwe leader (Ngudle was named in the Rivonia Trial as a co-conspirator). Each of the witnesses stated that Ngudle had told them that he was being tortured. The state claimed that Ngudle hanged himself because he had betrayed his comrades and had been told that he was going to be sentenced to death anyway. Further evidence of torture was ruled irrelevant: the court refused to accept the Defence's contention that torture (which the police denied) was a contributing factor to Ngudle's suicide. The hearing was adjourned.

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International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF) Photographic Collection

  • ZA UWCRIMA MR-RT-123
  • Collection
  • 1940 - 1990
  • Part of Rivonia Trial

This collection was built up by the London-based IDAF, which was the nerve centre of the international anti-apartheid information campaign from the 1960s, and its photographs have been used in countless publications and productions over the past three decades.

The photographs related to the Rivonia Trial are all black and white photographs. The photographers are largely unknown. Subjects include:
-Scenes at the Rivonia Trial (LA55-33; LA271-2-4; LA272-2-1 and LA272-2-2: protestors with police; A42-6-1: protests on hearing verdict; A21-1-3: Winnie Mandela outside court; A14-4-1; A14-4-5; H10-2-1: Ruth First addressing post Rivonia rally; A1-3-1: Mandela's mother and Zinzi Mandela with Sheila Weinberg outside court; LA793-2-1: Joe Slovo and Yusuf Dadoo with placards during Trial; LA856-3-3: June Mlangeni wife of Andrew Mlangeni)
-Photographs of all the Trialists (LA242-6-4; LA271-2-5)
-Media reports (LA56-1, LA56-2)
-Photographs of the accused (LA26-3 and LA271-4-5: Denis Goldberg in disguise; LA26-5 and LA271-4-2: Rusty Bernstein; LA26-6: Ahmed Kathrada in disguise; LA26-9 and LA271-5-3: James Kantor; LA271-2-1: Walter Sisulu in disguise; LA271-2-2: Nelson Mandela; LA271-3-2: Bob Hepple; LA271-3-3: Arthur Goldreich; LA271-4-1: Raymond Mhlaba; LA271-4-3: police photo of Ahmed Kathrada; LA271-4-4: police photo of Govan Mbeki; LA271-5-4: Elias Motsoaledi; LA271-5-5: Andrew Mlangeni; EW21-1-2 and EW21-2-1: portrait of Ahmed Kathrada)
-Others involved or present (LA271-1-1: T B Vorster; LA271-1-2: Luit. Van Wyk; LA271-1-3: Dirker; LA271-1-4: Judge De Wet; LA271-1-5: Percy Yutar; LA271-3-1: Joe Slovo; LA271-7-5: security forces inspect Liliesleaf)
-Rivonia/Liliesleaf Farm (LA271-5-2: map of Rivonia area; LA271-6-2: interior of Liliesleaf House; LA271-6-3: plan of Liliesleaf Farm; LA271-7-4: Radio transmitter found by security forces)
-Miscellaneous (LA271-7-2: Mountainview house; LA271-7-3: Cover of 'Rivonia Masker AF!' book; LA272-1-1: petrol bomb; LA272-1-5: outline of Operation Mayibuye; LA272-1-2: diagram of weapon; LA272-1-3: weapons; LA272-1-4: diagram of hand grenade; LA272-2-3: letter of support to Sisulu from Canon Collins; LA272-2-4: house damaged by bomb blast; LA272-2-5: electricity pylons damaged by bomb blast)

International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF)

African Writers' Club: BBC Africa Services Collection

Talk about the struggle of black people of South Africa living under apartheid. The speaker talks about the role of the African National Congress (ANC) in the fight for freedom. The names of many freedom fighters are listed. There is also a detailed discussion about the 'Rivonia Treason Trial'.

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Rivonia Trial, South Africa, 1963-4: Nelson Mandela Dictabelt Dubbings

Dubbings of seven dictabelts loaned by the National Archives of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa, of court recordings made at the Court of Justice in Pretoria on 20 April 1964. The blue 'dictabelts' are a type of audio recording, developed by the Dictaphone company, which was mainly used in offices between the 1940s and the 1960s. The short broad plastic belts were capable of being flattened and posted but could not be wiped and reused. It appears that the whole Rivonia Trial was recorded on dictabelts in line with normal court procedure at the time. These dubbings comprise only the opening of the defence case by Defence Counsel Bram Fischer, followed by interjections from Justice Quartus de Wet and Prosecutor Percy Yutar, then a three-hour speech by Accused Number One (Nelson Mandela). Extracts from the recordings have been published by SABC entitled 'The voice of Nelson Mandela: extracts from famous speeches', SABC/EMI, 2002 (EMI 724353736521; NSA shelfmark 1CD0189137).

Transcripts available.

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Carter-Karis Collection of South African Materials

  • ZA ASC-UNISA MR-RT-107
  • Collection
  • 1960 - 1980
  • Part of Rivonia Trial

This extensive collection was purchased by UNISA from Cooperative Africana Microfilm Project (CAMP). It is housed in Documentation Centre for Africa Studies. A microfilm reel guide is also available there. Rivonia Trial material is found at 2:YR2:84, 92, 97, and 99. It contains reaction to Rivonia, the States' "A factual analysis of the documentary exhibits handed in and of the oral testimony given at the so-called Rivonia Trial", documents seized in searched connected with the Rivonia Trial, and newspaper clippings.

Karis, Thomas

The State versus Nelson Mandela and Nine Others

Partial record of the State versus Nelson Mandela and nine others. Contains: State's Concluding Address : Part 2: The persons who were parties to the conspiracy and the implementation thereof (OP12099), Part.4: A factual analysis of the defence case and of the further documentary exhibits produced in the course thereof (OP12100); and Judgment and Sentence (1 volume: OP12098).

Department of Justice

Liliesleaf Farm/Rivonia Trial Research Collection

Contains:
-Books and other published material related to Rivonia Trial including "Rivonia Unmasked" by Lauritz Strydom (Voortrekker Pers, Johannesburg). Published in January 1965 immediately after the Rivonia Trial, this book puts across the State's view of the trial. It has a Foreword by B J Vorster and an Introduction by Percy Yutar.
-Archival documents, maps and photographs from other institutions used as research and/or for displays
-Documents re Liliesleaf Farm development.

These records do not necessarily form a collection discrete from other Liliesleaf Farm collections but have been listed as such for ease of reference. Also see entries for Harold and Annemarie Wolpe Papers, Liliesleaf Farm Audio-Visual Collection, Liliesleaf Farm Artefact Collection, James Kantor Papers, Percy Yutar Papers.

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Denis Kuny Papers

Court records and other documents relating to trials in which Kuny (an advocate) was involved, including the Rivonia Trial where Denis Kuny was junior counsel. One box of Rivonia Trial material contains: A1.1 Indictments 1963 ; A1.2 Motion to quash the indictment 1963 ; A1.3 Defence requests for further particulars and the State's reply thereto; A1.4 Documents relating to Accused no 8 (James Kantor) including affidavit, request for particulars, petition, notes and a press cutting.

Records still in process.

Kuny, Denis

Records of the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS)

Memoranda and other documents on political trials, conscientious objection, detentions, repression and the ANC Constitutional Committee. Section P1 Political Trials contains reports and documents concerning political trials in South Africa, including amongst others:
-Treason Trial (from: Political Science Quarterly)
-Mandela speech from the Dock (Rivonia Trial 1964)
-State vs. Dean of Johannesburg (1972)
-The trial of the 13 (Ngkungwana and others) By Shauna Westcott
-Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim vs. the Apartheid State. By Rudi Boon
-The Passtoors trial. By Willem C van Manen
-Political Trials, South Africa 1976-1979. By Glenn Moss
-Security and related Trials in SA July 1976-May 1977 (SAIRR)
-Security Trials 1978 by Linda Ensor
-Letter from Judge Didcott to John Dugard re Andrew Zondo
-Delmas Trial 1980s
-Upington (Paballelo) 1989
-‘The Sun Will Rise’ statements from the dock by SA political prisoners (Sobukwe, Mandela, Sisulu, Motsoaledi, Mlangeni, Mkwayi, Fischer, ja Toivo, Tuhadeleni, April, Lekota, Mokoape, Suttner, Sexwale, Tsiki, Ramokgadi, Seko, Nkosi, Mothlanthe) Ed Mary Benson, 1981
-Political trials seminar. 19-21 May 1989
-Political prisoner status: Namibia 1989/1990

Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS)

Records of the Students' Resource Centre, University of Witwatersrand

Reports, pamphlets, minutes, publications, statements and photographs relating to NUSAS and SASPU, as well as miscellaneous information on various anti-apartheid and other organisations. A19.3 Publications and Media contain two items on Rivonia: A19.3.4: Rivonia - Tweny Years: A Resource Pack (published by ADAC) and A19.3.7: An Overview: Rivonia Trial (pamphlet).

Students' Resource Centre, University of the Witwaterand

Records of the African National Congress (ANC)

Constitution, minutes, reports, resolutions, Treason Trial legal records, press statements, speeches, correspondence, press clippings, pamphlets, periodicals, notes, and items on the A.N.C. Youth League and the A.N.C. Women's League together with other organisations such as the All African Convention, All African People's Conference and the South African Congress of Democrats. Subjects are apartheid, African nationalism, passes, education, Freedom Charter and the activities of the ANC in exile. Forms part of the archives of the South African Institute of Race Relations. Two items relate to the Rivonia Trial under Fa: Policy statements by ANC and related organisations (1946-1973): Fa46 "Stand by our leaders" (1964, 1 p.Ts. Asking for a boycott for 12 June when Rivonia Trialists will be sentenced) and Fa47 "The message of Rivonia" (1964, 1p. Ts.).

African National Congress (ANC)

Liliesleaf Farm Artefact Collection

Artefacts and fragments from archaeological dig conducted at Liliesleaf Farm; artefacts in exhibits in the Museum; Hinterland truck used to smuggle arms into South Africa in 1980s and documentation on it; Awaiting Trial card from 1963 and notes passed between accused and lawyers during the Trial. For example, "Jimmy Kantor, Jolly Good Work. Denis"

These artefacts do not necessarily form a collection discrete from other Liliesleaf Farm collections but have been listed as such for ease of reference. Also see entries for Harold and Annemarie Wolpe Papers, Liliesleaf Farm Audio-Visual Collection, James Kantor Papers, Liliesleaf Farm/Rivonia Trial Research Collection, Percy Yutar Papers.

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Harold Wolpe Papers

There is no direct link between this material and Harold Wolpe's political activities at the time of the arrest at Rivonia, his subsequent arrest on the border of British Bechuanaland (now Botswana) or his ultimate escape but it is included as it speaks to the interests of one of those involved in activities at Liliesleaf farm. In fact, Harold Wolpe handled the purchase of the famous Rivonia farm.

This collection comprises material, mostly academic papers and articles related to law, sociology, development, economic theory, ethnicity, race, nationalism etc. It was delivered in box files (Section A), plus 21 drawers and boxes of index cards (Section B).

Wolpe, Harold

Twenty Five Years of Apartheid

Panorama Series. Very short clip where Winnie Mandela greets the crowds with a raised fist and the BBC reporter Robin Ray reads out the statements made at the Rivonia Trial, including that of Nelson Mandela. FA8576: Complete 16mm print on one reel; FA5093: Reel one of two; FA5094: Reel two of two. Also on VHS.

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

The State versus Nelson Mandela and Nine Others

Partial record of the State versus Nelson Mandela and nine others. Contains only State's Concluding Address: vol.1: A factual analysis of the documentary exhibits handed in and of the oral testimony given, by the state witnesses.

Department of Justice

Records of the American Committee on Africa (ACOA)

35mm. Originals at the Amistad Research Centre, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Documents the pioneering anti-apartheid group in the US from its establishment in the 1950s. Reels related to Rivonia Trial are:
4:0827: Campaign against South African Apartheid: Memos, draft letters to and lists of sponsors, resolutions and declarations, flyers, clippings and notes 1963 (1960-1964). 87 frames. Major topics: Appeal for action against Apartheid, Rivonia arrests and trials, international boycott of South African goods etc.
15:1071: 108/5: African National Congress Pamphlets. 27 frame. Includes 1072: South African on Trial: Behind the Rivonia Case (no date). 13 frames.
22:1205: 111/12. Mandela, Nelson (ca. 1964). 31 frames. Major topic: Rivonia trial.
41:0798: 118/35. World Campaign for the Release of South African Political Prisoners: Rivonia Trial: Newsletters, statements, press releases, brochure (1963-1964). 31 frames.
42:0784: 119/23. Writings: Chief Albert Luthuli (1957 and 1964). 9 frames. Major topics: Racial situation, Rivonia trial, ANC.
42:0841: 119/26. Writings: Nelson Mandela (1961 and 1964). 70 frames. Major topics: 1961 Stay-at-home demonstration, Rivonia trial.

American Committee on Africa

Jack and Ray Simons Papers

This extensive collection reflects the immense contribution made by the Simons' to the political, trade union and intellectual life of South Africa. F9.3 Trials: Treason and terrorism, 1957-1989 has one item related to the Rivonia: an ANC booklet entitled "South Africa on Trial: Behind the Rivonia Case." It outlines the trial, the history of the case, defendants' biographies. The aim was to encourage pressure not to impose the death penalty. It was printed in the UK. A further item may be related to the Rivonia Trial or to previous trials (it is undated): Typed notes (with manuscript additions) on High Treason and the South African Law.

Simons, Jack

Colin Purkey Papers

Correspondence, memoranda, reports, minutes, interviews, photographs and posters relating to the following organisations: Black Sash, Detainees' Parents Support Committee, End Conscription Campaign, Institute for a Democratic Alternative in South Africa, Jews for Social Justice, Johannesburg Democratic Action Committee, Mass Democratic Movement, National Education Union of South Africa, National Education Crisis Committee, NUSAS and the United Democratic Front.
Subjects are Namibia, education, trade unions, women, detentions, protest theatre and the Black liberation struggle. B. Political Organisations include Mandela's statement from the dock at the Rivonia Trial (B11.8.3).

Records of the Garment Workers Union

Minutes, correspondence, memoranda, printed items (including the Garment Worker), press clippings and photographs relating to the Garment Workers Union and its predecessor, the Witwatersrand Tailors Association. One paragraph in one item mentions the Rivonia Trial in Bba2.2.11 General correspondence 1951-1973. It is contained in a letter written by Violet Weinberg to Anna Scheepers re Weinberg's dismissal from the Industrial Council for the Clothing Industry (August 1964). Weinberg voices disagreement with Scheepers on a number of political and union-related points. It is in this context that political developments like the Trial are mentioned.

Garment Workers Union (GWU)

South African Police Museum and Archives Collection

The Museum contains evidence and documentation related to high profile police investigations. Rivonia Trial material is as follows:
Artefacts taken as evidence during the raid on Liliesleaf Farm:
-Three duplication machines (Roneo 750)
-Two radio transmitters
-Typewriter
Incomplete. These came to the Museum from John Vorster Square Police Station. They were then transferred back to the Police Station. When they were finally returned to the Museum, some artefacts and evidence was missing.

Archival files contain:
-One page on artefacts and their significance when transferred from John Vorster Square Police Station to the Museum in 1984.
-Labels from artefact evidence
-Pamphlets collected as evidence
-Instruction manual for duplication machine
-Press clippings from trial
-State's Concluding Address III (Afrikaans)
All 639.29-2/2A

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The Voice of Nelson Mandela

Extracts from his famous Statement from the Dock. Produced in 2001.

South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC)

Records of the Archibishops of Cape Town Part II

This large collection of records of the Anglican Church contains, amongst other things, much about the Church’s confrontation with the State over the issue of apartheid, notably the effects of the Group Areas Act on black churches in white areas and the admission or all races to church schools. Other topics are conscientious objection and the refusal of young Anglicans, both lay and clerical, to serve in the South African Defence Force and the question of Namibia’s independence and the expulsion of Bishops Mize and Winter for promoting it. C85 Current legislation (1957 - 1978) includes: 1964 correspondence re death sentence and long imprisonment for those convicted in the Rivonia Trial.

Anglican Church

South African Institute of Race Relations Press Clippings

The clippings relate to a great variety of subjects. Rivonia Trial material is under Political Trials 197.3 and 197.4. 197.3 has clippings from the Star and Rand Daily Mail Newspapers and subjects include: Harold Wolpe, details of the evidence being presented in the trial, Denis Goldberg and his alleged involvement in training camps, the independence of the judiciary, details of the case and the indictments. 197.4 has clippings mainly from the Star. Subjects include: sabotage and justifications for it, Joel Joffe leaving South Africa after the trial, the fact that the trialists would not appeal sentences, prison conditions, indemnity of Rivonia Trial witnesses, Bernstein leaving South Africa.

Institute of Race Relations (IRR)

Karis/Gerhart Collection

Includes interviews, political documents, political trial material, trade union documents and biographical files covering the political scene from 1964-1990. Many are photocopies. There is no Rivonia Trial material in the political trial material but there are biographies on the accused: Mandela (reel 91), Kathrada (reel 90), Sisulu (reel 96), Mbeki (reel 92), Wolpe (reel 98) and supplementary biographical files on Motsoaledi, Goldberg and Bernstein.

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Records of the Department of Home Affairs, Director of Publications, Cape Town (Complaints and Appeals)

  • ZA WCARS MR-RT-084
  • Collection
  • 1975 - 1990
  • Part of Rivonia Trial

This directorate was responsible for classifying documents for censorship or banning post 1970. The references below are not the actual documents but rather reports and notes written by those classifying them. Also see Records of the Publications Control Board in this database.
P89/04/08, volume 3/255: Statement from the dock, Rivonia Trial: Objectionable Literature (1989)
P84/6/15, volume 1/104: Pamphlet: Release Mandela Campaign Remembers Rivonia: Objectionable Literature (1984)
P83/2/26, volume P83/2/26: Sticker: The People's Leader, Denis Goldberg: Objectionable Object (1983)

Director of Publications

Rivonia Trial: Quartus De Wet/Bram Fischer/Dr Percy Yutar

SABC English Service broadcast. Recordings of the proceedings during the Rivonia Trial. Includes recordings of Judge President Quartus De Wet, the prosecutor Dr Percy Yutar and counsel for the defence Bram Fischer. Mandela appears as Accused number 1. Dated 3 December 1963.

South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC)

Department of Correctional Services Political Prisoner Files

  • ZA NARSSA MR-RT-094
  • Collection
  • 1964 - 1990
  • Part of Rivonia Trial

This collection consists of files, kept by prison authorities, on all political prisoners held in prisons in South Africa. The list for these files is in three parts but only the first two relate to Rivonia Trialists.
List A reflects files of nine people, including Kathrada, Mandela, Mbeki, Mhlaba, Mlangeni of the Rivonia Trialists. These files contain correspondence.

List B has many more political prisoners' files. These files contain general correspondence re prisoners, transfers etc. The only Rivonia Trialist in List B is Denis Goldberg.

List C deals with specific issues such as medical attention and education of prisoners but does not include any of the Rivonia Trialists.

Department of Correctional Services

South African History Archive Poster Collection

Forms part of Struggles for Justice Archival Collection at SAHA. In the formative years, SAHA was managed by non-archivists, who applied library techniques to their collection, arrangement and description activities. Materials were catalogued by subject and/or physical medium, with very little attention paid to preserving documentation in accordance with its original context or what is referred to as ‘provenance’ in archival discourse. This approach saw the emergence of six collections one of which was the Poster Collection. The collection dates mainly from the 1980s and 1990s. There are duplicate copies for a substantial proportion of the items. Posters acquired by Historical Papers are also included in this collection. All items are retrievable on a database. The book Images of Defiance: South African Resistance Posters of the 1980s (Raven Press, Johannesburg, 1991)
reproduced 327 items from the collection. Slides of the latter are also available
(see AL2432). A few individual posters relating to the Rivonia Trial are: Poster 181 (SN1096) "Release Mandela Campaign Remembers Rivonia Trial" from 1985 (?) from Release Mandela Campaign and Poster 1049 (SN599) "We remember Rivonia and life-serving prisoners: Release all political prisoners" from Release Mandela Campaign, UDF, COSATU, SAYCO from 1987 (?).

South African History Archive (SAHA)

Denis Goldberg Collection

  • ZA ASC-UNISA MR-RT-102
  • Collection
  • 1980 - 1989
  • Part of Rivonia Trial

Part of Documentation Centre for African Studies at UNISA Library. Denis Goldberg donated sound cassettes and videos about his life during the Struggle, as well as on his work after he was released. The only part of the collection directly related to the Rivonia Trial are the sound cassettes which have been put on CD (CD numbers correspond with cassette numbers). CDs re Rivonia Trial:
2A, 2B, 3A, 3B (1985): Interview of Denis Goldberg by John Pampallis including discussion of start of armed struggle, Liliesleaf, Rivonia Trial, imprisonment and release.
7A, 7B (1985/6): Discussion with R and C Boon re struggle time, Rivonia Trial, armed struggle.
26A, 26B (1993): Reconstruction of Rivonia for Radiowerf Amsterdam (?). New owners of Liliesleaf talk. Dutch narrative with English in background.

Goldberg, Denis Theodore

International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF) Oral History and Sound Archive

  • ZA UWCRIMA MR-RT-085
  • Collection
  • 1955 - 1995
  • Part of Rivonia Trial

Collection of audio recordings, some of which were recorded by the London-based International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF) for their documentary film productions. Rivonia Trial related material includes:
-Mandela Statement (excerpts): Reading of excerpts from Nelson Mandela's Statement from the Dock at the Rivonia Trail used in the film Isitwalandwe (IDAF, 1980). Open-reel tape only. (MCA5-105).
-Denis Goldberg Interview: Oral history interview with Denis Goldberg conducted by Wolfie Kodesh on 6/8/93. Includes detailed description of Rivonia Trial and experiences in prison over 22 years. 6 tapes and transcript. (MCA6-279).
-Hazel Anne Goldreich Interview: Oral history interview with Hazel Anne Goldreich (owner of farm in Rivonia) conducted by Wolfie Kodesh on 24/8/93. 2 tapes. (MCA6-281).
-Joel Joffe Interview: Oral history interview with Joel Joffe, lawyer for defence in Rivonia Trial, conducted by Wolfie Kodesh on 18/9/93. 2 tapes. (MCA6-292).
-Walter Sisulu Interviews: Three series of interviews with Walter Sisulu conducted by Herbert Shore in September 1995, January 1996 and January 1997. Topics include the Defiance Campaign, Freedom Charter conference, split with the PAC, Rivonia Trial and Robben Island. 26 cassette tapes. (MCA18-098).

International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF)

Hilda and Rusty Bernstein Papers

Rusty (Lionel) Bernstein's Papers include personal correspondence to family and comrades, professional documentation relating to his career as an architect and inventor, and a large collection of writing, including drafts and material for his political biography "Memory Against Forgetting" as well as articles, essays and literature relating to prominent events in the liberation struggle (the 1946 Mine Workers Strike, The Freedom Charter and the Rivonia Trial). The collection also includes written material relating to his political career in the Communist Party and involvement with the ANC and as editor/contributor to journals like Fighting Talk and The African Communist and a lecture series given in Moscow to young militants of the ANC. Hilda Bernstein's papers include a series of journals dating from 1967 to 2001 and personal diaries written whilst in prison, and on travels throughout South Africa and Europe. A large part of the collection marks her involvement with women's rights and work for the ANC Women's League. There is also a considerable collection of art records documenting her career in London and Europe. The bulk of the collection is comprised of records relating to Hilda's extensive writings - books, articles and political literature. Of particular prominence is material collected for her most recent book "The Rift", which captures the experiences of South African exiles. There is also a large collection of correspondence both personal and professional and political brochures relating to her position as City Councillor for the Communist Party in Johannesburg from 1943 to 1946. The records kept by Hilda (viewed as 'evidence' of Hilda's activities) far outnumber those kept by Rusty. It would be misleading to presume that this is in any way a complete archive of the Bernstein's activities.

Records directly related to the Rivonia Trial are:
D1.2 Sketches, Rivonia Trial done by Hilda on scraps of paper in black pen during the trial. There are drawings of the judge, Special Branch policemen, court scenes and the back of the heads of the accused.
F2.18 Article by Hilda: "The Rivonia Trial" (1 December 1963), 4 pages of a reflection on the trial
F2.23 Article by Hilda: "The Men Who Many Die" (8 March 1964)
F2.25 Article by Hilda: "Rivonia" Landmark in SA Liberation Struggle" (24 June 1964) detailing what happened at Rivonia
F3.36 Article by Hilda: "The Trials of Nelson Mandela" (undated)
R3.1 Article in Sechaba 1989: "Rivonia: Telling it as it was"
V2.1 Transcript of Judge's remarks when passing sentence in the trial (photocopy)
V2.2 "Rivonia: The Story of Accused No. 11" by Bob Hepple. Memoirs (manuscript) with letters from Sisulu and Joffe as appendix.

Minor references to the Rivonia Trial are:
B2.1 Diary notes where Hilda refers visiting Rusty in jail, going to court and consulting with lawyers amongst other things
I11.1.2 Letter addressed to Rusty from Hilda in Pretoria Jail. Aside from address, not reference to trial or Rivonia events.
N4 Correspondence re his inventions and other business between Rusty and Hilda while he was in prison during the Rivonia Trial
Q1 Draft Novel by Rusty written in Pretoria Local Prison during the trial in 1963/4. Content not related to Trial in any way.

Bernstein, Robert L

Trials

Press summaries and bulletins of the Treason Trials' Defence Fund 1958-1961; press clippings on the Rivonia Trial (including on Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu) 1964, Abram Fischer 1965-1966, trial of 22 (including Winnie Mandela) 1969-1970, S Cooper and others 1975, Breyten Breytenbach 1977, Solomon Mahlangu 1977-1978; record of proceedings of W W Twala and Others in the Supreme Court of South Africa (Transvaal Provincial Division) 1978-1979 (pages 1-2554).

Institute of Race Relations (IRR)

South African History Archive Photograph Collection

Forms part of Struggles for Justice Archival Collection at SAHA. This collection was opened by Julie Frederikse whilst researching her book The Unbreakable Thread. The 1210 photographs she collected, form the bulk of this collection. SAHA photographs are incorporated into the broader Historical Papers photograph collection stored in the Ephemera room. A few individual photographs relating to the Rivonia Trial are in this collection under 21A including the front page of "The Argus" newspaper with a report on the verdict (21A.10).

South African History Archive (SAHA)

Records of the United Democratic Front (UDF)

Established in 1983 to coordinate opposition to the Apartheid State's reforms, the UDF promoted links between various organisations, region and parties. The UDF Collection was created by adding together material from various sources: individuals, the UDF Information Office and UDF offices from around the country. Gaps are evident. The National Reception Committee which was created to deal with the release of the Rivonia trialists operated from the UDF offices. There is a small amount of material related to this: A1.13.4 Statements and Press Releases (1988, 1989) including on the release of Rivonia leaders (1 file, 10 items) and A1.18.8 Profiles of various people including of Rivonia leaders (1 file, 8 items).

United Democratic Front (UDF)

International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF) Papers: Bram Fischer

-File on Bram Fischer. It is unclear whether this file has to do with Bram Fischer's involvement in the Rivonia Trial or his own subsequent trial.

Not available for inspection at time of this audit

International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF)

International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF) Papers: Biographical notes on Rivonia Trialists

Part of International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF) Papers. Biographical notes on some of the people persecuted by the South African government for their opposition to the policies of apartheid, 30 May 1964. The list includes Nelson Mandela and other Rivonia trialists.

Available for inspection at time of audit.

International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF)

Liberal Party of South Africa Collection

Special topics/memoranda: State vs. Nelson Mandela and others. Section SV6 of the trial. Contains evidence and address in mitigation of sentence where Alan Paton is examined first by Mr Hanson for the Defence and then by Dr Yutar for the State (12 June 1964). Also description of Alan Paton 's evidence and address (seems to be a typed chapter from a book).

Liberal Party

Benjamin Pogrund Papers

Benjamin Pogrund was a journalist. The collection includes correspondence, telexes, memoranda, press cuttings, printed items re the Rand Daily Mail, black rights and attitudes, riots, political prisoners, apartheid, the homelands, labour legislation, race relations, the Schlebusch Commission, treason trials, detentions, bannings, forced removals, labour, education and trade unions. See I3.1 for 2 files related to the Rivonia Trial: Index to witnesses and The State vs. Abram Fischer and Others.

Pogrund, Benjamin

Helen Suzman Papers

Correspondence, diaries, articles, speeches, photographs, notes, press clippings and printed items relating to her years in parliament as an opposition MP. Subjects are detentions, bannings, restrictions, political prisoners, removals, homelands, urbanisation, labour, women, education, health and social welfare, politics, economics and Namibia. There is no direct reference to the Rivonia Trial but there are records related to prison conditions at Robben Island and Pretoria Central (where the trialists were incarcerated) in 1960s, 70s and 80s (Aa1.2.1, Aa4.1, Ab5). Records include correspondence with relevant authorities and Suzman's own personal notes from visits. Also newspaper report ten years since Rivonia Trial (Aa4.1), and other press cuttings re prison conditions (Aa9). Also correspondence with indirect references to Denis Goldberg (Ab1.1, Ab1.2).

Suzman, Helen

Nelson Mandela Papers

  • ZA UWCRIMA MR-RT-082
  • Collection
  • 1963 - 1967
  • Part of Rivonia Trial

Small collection of 1 hanging file. Includes copies of 1960s Umkhonto we Sizwe and ANC flyers signed in 1993 by Mandela. Although not directly related to Rivonia Trial, material like this was evidence used by state against the accused in the trial.

Untitled

Records of the Publications Control Board

This board was responsible for classifying documents for censorship or banning pre 1970. The references below are not the actual documents but rather reports and notes written by those classifying them. Also see Records of the Department of Home Affairs, Director of Publications, Cape Town (Complaints and Appeals) in this database
966/66, volume 71: Book: L'Apartheid: on Nelson Mandela: Objectionable Literature (1966)
418/66, volume 67: : Nelson Mandela versus The State: Objectionable Literature (1966)
1319/45, volume 61: I am Prepared to Die, Nelson Mandela: Objectionable Literature (1965)

Publications Control Board

South African Newspaper Collection

Collection of South African newspapers. More comprehensive than collection in Pretoria branch. Request relevant dates or publications to find coverage on Rivonia Trail.

National Library of South Africa

GALA Oral History Project

GALA's Oral History Project was launched in co-operation with journalist Mark Gevisser to provide background material for Gevisser's film biography of Cecil Williams (The Man who Drove with Mandela). Williams was a well-known theatre director in South Africa in the 1950s. He was also a communist, underground activist and gay. These interviews form the bulk of the collection (Series A). It consists of more than 60 interviews on audio cassette with lesbians and gay men older than 60 at the time of the interview. Some of the interviews have been transcribed, and include some photographs and memorabilia. The interviews keyworded "Rivonia treason trial" are A1.12, A1.18, A1.32 and A1.49. A.1. are all interviews with gay men and lesbians about their lives in South Africa in the 1950s and 1960s. Restrictions apply.

Gay and Lesbian Archive (GALA)

Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement (IAAM) Collection

  • ZA UWCRIMA MR-RT-061
  • Collection
  • 1961 - 1989
  • Part of Rivonia Trial

Includes correspondence, minutes of meetings statement, briefings, press releases, press clippings, Amandla, publications.

Records related to Rivonia:
2.1.1. Minutes of meetings 1964: Contains reference to lobbying around Rivonia Trial
2.4. Dealings with Irish Press: Contains references to Rivonia Trial in statements and press conferences
31.1.1 Correspondence with ANC: Contains brief references to Rivonia Trial
39 Press cuttings 1963-1994: Cuttings are in date order and include cuttings from Irish press re arrests at Rivonia, escape of Wolpe and Goldreich and trial.

Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement (IAAM)

Govan Mbeki Papers

  • ZA UWCRIMA MR-RT-063
  • Collection
  • 1960 - 1992
  • Part of Rivonia Trial

Prison letters and writings, unpublished manuscripts, and a proposal for documentary on Govan Mbeki (1992). There is no material directly related to the Rivonia Trial but this collection has been included as it provides insight into the life and personality of one of those involved in the Trial.

Mbeki, Govan Archibald Mvuyelwa

Denis Goldberg Collection

  • ZA UWCRIMA MR-RT-069
  • Collection
  • 1988 - 1999
  • Part of Rivonia Trial

This collection does not have material directly related to the Rivonia Trial. It contains material from after Goldberg was released (IDAF correspondence, ANC documents, press clippings, publications etc.). It has been included as it speaks to the post-prison involvement of one of the Trial's main accused.

Untitled

Percy Yutar Papers

Acquired from the Yutar family.
-Eight scrapbooks labelled "The Rivonia Trial 11 July 1963-12 June 1964 as reported by the press from 28 August 1963 to 13 June 1999". They contain a timeline of events, clippings labelled with the date. Also seven scrapbooks labelled "Soweto Riots". It is unclear whether Yutar compiled the scrapbooks or only collected the clippings.
-One lever arch file containing a manuscript for a book by Percy Yutar entitled "The Rivonia Trial - The Facts (based in authentic documentary exhibits)". The manuscript contains a preface and a breakdown of chapters but the bulk does not read like a book but rather appears to be a reproduction of the State's trial records (indictment, State's opening address, evidence for the State, evidence for the Defence, judgement, evidence in mitigation of sentence etc).
-One volume: A factual analysis of the documentary exhibits handed in and other oral testimony given at the so-called Rivonia Trial. Inscribed: "With appreciation from B G Fourie, Secretary for Information"
-Scrapbook with clippings, photographs etc. Mostly of Yutar's career after the Rivonia Trial but a few clippings relate to the Trial from May 1964.
-Press clippings in folder in plastic sleeves re Yutar's legal career, Rivonia Trial, Excelsior case, Moodie case and others.

These papers do not necessarily form a collection discrete from other Liliesleaf Farm collections but have been listed as such for ease of reference. Also see entries for Harold and Annemarie Wolpe Papers, Liliesleaf Farm Audio-Visual Collection, Liliesleaf Farm Artefact Collection, Liliesleaf Farm/Rivonia Trial Research Collection, James Kantor Papers. There are also prosecution records from the Yutars in the personal collection of businessman Douw Steyn and in the National Archives (transferred from Brenthurst Library).

Untitled

International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF) Papers: South African Political Prisoners: The life we led 1963-1966

  • ZA UWCRIMA MR-RT-079
  • Collection
  • 1956 - 1964
  • Part of Rivonia Trial

Manuscript of "South African Political Prisoners: The Life We Led 1963-1966" by Mahlubi L Mrwetyana. Reference to Robben Island prison conditions including for Rivonia Trialists. File on Race Relations with completed questionnaires and extensive notes on prison conditions in South Africa 1956-1961; file with material on families; biographical notes on some of the persons persecuted by the government of the Republic of South Africa for their opposition to the policies of apartheid, 30 May 1964. The list includes Nelson Mandela and other Rivonia Trialists. The list is fairly extensive. File re IRC visits to South African prisons 1964; copies of the letter and reports sent to B J Vorster (Minister of Justice) by the ICRC, June 18 1964 re: conditions in South African prisons (Robben Island, State farm prison, Victor Verster, various police stations in Pretoria and Johannesburg, Pretoria Prison, Leeuwkop, Prison Vooruitsig, Kroonstad, Pretoria Prison, T B Hospital Sonderwater).

Not available for inspection at time of this audit.

International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF)

International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF) Papers: Trials

  • ZA UWCRIMA MR-RT-080
  • Collection
  • 1956 - 1989
  • Part of Rivonia Trial

Drafts, memos, Treason Trial Defence Fund correspondence, various Treason Trial documents. Apparently also includes Rivonia Trial brief, Rivonia Trial extracts of records.

Not available for inspection at time of this audit.

International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF)

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