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Memories of Mandela
- The British Museum,
Friday 13 January 2017
Good evening.
My personal memories of Nelson Mandela are mainly about his
leadership and indomitable courage in the 1963 Rivonia Trial.
For nine months, I and the other defence lawyers worked with
him almost every workday.
My first meeting with Nelson Mandela was in October 1963 in
the Interview Room at Pretoria Jail. I as the attorney for the
leaders of the banned ANC, and Bram Fischer, George Bizos
and Arthur Chaskalson who were the Advocates had just begun
our consultation with Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki and the other
leaders of the ANC who had been arrested ninety days earlier at
the Rivonia Farm in Johannesburg. Nelson Mandela was not
present at the start of the consultation as he was already
imprisoned on Robben Island serving a five-year sentence under
the Suppression of Communism Act.
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However, ten minutes into the consultation the door of the
Interview Room suddenly was flung open and Nelson Mandela,
flown from Robben Island earlier in the morning, strode into the
room. Unlike the lawyers clothed in suits and the other
prisoners who wore their own awaiting trial clothes, Mandela
was clad in South African regulation prison garb for black
prisoners – short trousers, open-toed ill-made sandals and a
kahki open-necked shirt. He looked hollow cheeked and had
lost a great deal of weight. His manner however was as always
a friendly, confident leader adapting appropriately to any
challenges. After embracing his co-accused and the other
lawyers whom he already knew well, he in no way undeterred
by his short trousers, quite naturally took charge of the
consultation.
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We explained to them exactly how serious the charges were
against them. They were to be charged for attempting to
overthrow the State by violent revolution. Under the Sabotage
Act a person could be sentenced to death for throwing a stone
through a window with political intent. Accordingly, it was
clear that for the offence which Nelson Mandela and the others
were charged, death by hanging was almost inevitable if they
were found guilty.
Nelson Mandela and his co-accused did not seem phased about
this. They explained that their lives were of secondary
importance to the cause. They intended that their conduct in the
trial would inspire their followers until freedom for all was
achieved even if they were imprisoned or executed.
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They were not concerned with the legalities of the charge. They
were concerned with the politics. They readily admitted that
almost all of them had taken part in a political campaign which
was designed to bring about the overthrow of the Government.
They had no intention of denying these facts in the witness box.
In the light of Nelson Mandela’s instructions, the strategy for the
trial became clear. The Government intended the trial to be a
‘show trial’ aimed at discrediting the accused and all they stood
for. Nelson Mandela also intended it to be a ‘show trial’, but it
would be a trial which would show the world the justice of the
cause for which he and his co-accused were fighting, and they
would put the Government on trial in the Court of World
Opinion.
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On the day of the Trial, the Registrar of the Court read the
charge “Accused Number One – Nelson Mandela – how do you
plead to the indictments served upon you?” Mandela stood up
in the dock and clearly and calmly answered “The Government
should be in the dock, not me. I plead not guilty”. The other
accused followed the same approach all fully aware that if found
guilty the likely sentence would be death by hanging.
The prosecution case then began and five months later came to
an end.
The defence strategy, driven by Nelson Mandela, was that he
would speak from the dock outlining the evils of the apartheid
system and the reasons why the ANC after 50 years of non-
violent protest, which had achieved nothing other than more
oppressive legislation, had no alternative other than to resort to
violence against government institutions.
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After he had spoken Walter Sisulu and the other accused would
give evidence under oath of the appalling impact of the system
of apartheid on the lives of the non-white population.
A few days before the defence case began, Nelson Mandela
handed me his handwritten statement and asked me to have it
typed. This I did and distributed the typescript to the other
defence lawyers. It ended with his well known declaration that
he was prepared to die for his beliefs.
In consultation with Mandela and the other accused on the
proposed speech, we the defence lawyers, pointed out that it
could be taken by the Judge as an invitation to sentence him to
death and we tried to persuade him to leave it out. However, he
was not willing to do this so the speech was handed back to me
to be finally re-typed to take account of a few minor
amendments.
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I could not bear the thought of Mandela being hanged and
decided that on the re-typed version I would leave out the
“prepared to die” sentence and handed the re-typed speech back
to Mandela.
The next day I received a handwritten note from Mandela asking
for the sentence I had omitted to be put back with the addition of
the words “IF NEEDS BE”, it is an ideal for which I am
prepared to die.
On Monday 23 April 1964, Bram Fischer opening for the
defence outlined the defence case and ended “The defence case
my Lord, will commence with the statement from the dock by
Nelson Mandela who personally took part in the establishment
of Umkhonto, and who will be able to inform the Court of the
beginning of that organisation and of its history up to August
1962 when he was arrested.”
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The Courtroom was packed, divided into two sections – the one
for whites, the other for blacks. Armed police stood at every
door. Outside the Court in the Square the police dogs bayed and
solid lines of policemen scowled at the crowd of singing ANC
supporters.
Impeccably dressed in an elegant suit, tall and powerful, looking
every bit the leader that he was. Nelson Mandela began very
slowly and very quietly to read the statement which he had
prepared in a flat even voice. At no stage did he raise his voice
very much, or change from the slow, measured speech with
which he had started. Gradually as he spoke, the silence became
more and more profound until it seemed that no-one in the Court
dared move or breathe.
After two and a half hours, he ended:
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“Our struggle is a truly national one. It is a struggle of the
African people, inspired by their own suffering and their own
experience, it is a struggle for the right to live. During my
lifetime, I dedicated myself to the struggle of the African people.
I fought against white domination and I fought against black
domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free
society in which all persons live together in harmony and with
equal opportunities.”
At this moment, he paused, a long pause, in which one could
hear a pin drop in the Court, and then looking squarely at the
Judge, he finished, “It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to
achieve,” and then dropping his voice very low, he added “but if
needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die”.
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Walter Sisulu then entered the witness box followed by the other
accused. All of them stood up brilliantly to cross-examination.
Walter’s evidence in a three-day cross-examination was
masterful.
At the end of the defence case Justice de Wet found all the
accused guilty, except for Rusty Bernstein who was discharged,
and adjourned the Court for sentence. The accused were then
sent back to Pretoria Jail where we went to consult with them
about leading evidence in mitigation of sentence. They were
calm, living now in the shadow of death. The strain and tension
was becoming almost unbearable, yet the only matter Nelson
Mandela and his co-accused wanted to discuss was how they
should behave in court when the death sentence was passed. We
told them that the Judge would ask the first accused, Nelson
Mandela, “Have you any reason why the death sentence should
not be passed?” Mandela decided that he would have a lot to
say.
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He would tell the Court that if they thought by sentencing him to
death this would oust the liberation movement, they were
wrong; that he was prepared to die for his believes and knew
that his death would be an inspiration to his people in their
struggle. We pointed out to him that such an address was hardly
designed to facilitate an appeal. His answer was simple. If
sentenced to death, he would not appeal. He thought that such
an appeal might be interpreted by their supporters as an act of
weakness.
At the adjournment, all the accused were all sentenced to life-
imprisonment.
Bram Fischer and I went to Robben Island to see Mandela and
the other accused about an appeal against their life
imprisonment sentences, which we recommended as there was
every prospect of getting an acquittal for Kathy Kathrada and
Raymond Mhlaba.
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However they had decided that an appeal would be seen by their
followers as a sign of weakness and they wanted their conduct to
be an inspiration to their followers.
Such was their solidarity with each other that a decision was
made that no appeal by any accused would be made.
It was Mandela’s leadership that saved his own life and those of
his co-accused. He was the leader of the other leaders of the
ANC and he treated all the accused as co-leaders. No important
decision was ever made without the agreement of all the
accused. Almost always when there was a discussion with
different views, Mandela would turn to Walter Sisulu who had
been his Mentor and say “Walter, what is your view on the
issue?” and he would listen very carefully and normally follow
Walter’s advice.
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Throughout the Trial Mandela remained calm, and although
angry at times at the behavior of the prosecution and the police,
would never raise his voice or in any way become emotional.
Such was his aura as a leader that even the prisoner officials
respected him and never dared to treat him in the way that they
treated non-white prisoners.
The solidarity of all the accused was incredible. The strain of
living together in the shadow of death ought to have been
impossible to deal with. There was never any friction amongst
the accused, they all supported one another and all looked up to
Mandela as their leader and followed his example.
When Mandela was released after 27 years and became
President of South Africa, I only saw him on a handful of
occasions. I particularly remember two such occasions.
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The one was when he was talking at a meeting in London, and
noticed me on the outskirts of the audience. With his
mischievous sense of humour, he loudly interrupted his speech
to say “Oh, I see Joel Joffe there, the man who sent me to jail for
27 years!”.
The other occasion was about two years before his death when
his memory and health was failing, he invited my wife and
myself to visit him at his home in Houghton. When I was about
to leave, he said to me “Joel, when you return to England, would
you please pass on my best wishes to Elizabeth”. I said
“Elizabeth who?” to which he responded “Elizabeth, the Queen”
and went on to say “When I first met her privately at
Buckingham Palace, she asked if she could call me Nelson and I
said yes. I than asked could I call her Elizabeth and she said
yes”. I explained that the Queen and I were not on visiting
terms but I would write to her sending his warm regards.
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In conclusion, I would mention that this book I have the copy of
the typescript of the speech which Mandela gave at his trial
which he signed and handed back to me. I also have the note
here which he sent me asking me to re-insert his willingness to
die. I also have the notes in his own handwriting of what he
would have said to the Judge if sentenced to death. They read:
“I meant everything I said. The blood of many patriots in this
country has been shed for democracy in conformity with
civilized standards.
If I must die, I declare to all that I will meet my fate like a man”.
Thank you