Global InformationDelmas Treason Trial information
| State v Baleka and Others | |
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 The Palace of Justice in Pretoria | |
| Court | Supreme Court, Transvaal Division |
| Started | 16 October 1985 |
| Decided | 18 November 1988 |
| Defendant(s) |
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| Case history | |
| Appealed to | Supreme Court of Appeal in State v Malindi and Others |
| Part of a series on |
| Apartheid |
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The Delmas Treason Trial was heard in the Supreme Court of South Africa from 16 October 1985 to 18 November 1988. In one of the lengthiest political trials in South African history, the apartheid state pursued treason charges against 22 activists for their alleged role in instigating the 1984 Vaal uprising in the Vaal Triangle. The trial led to the conviction of Moses Chikane, Mosiuoa Lekota, Popo Molefe, and Tom Manthata on treason charges, and seven others were convicted of terrorism.
Formally State v Baleka and Others, the trial is nicknamed for the town of Delmas in the Eastern Transvaal, though it was concluded in Pretoria. It is commonly viewed as part of an attempt by the apartheid state to criminalise and suppress the United Democratic Front (UDF) and broader anti-apartheid movement. Most of the accused were members of the Vaal Civic Association, a UDF affiliate which had been involved in organising the protests that triggered the 1984 uprising. Three – Chikane, Lekota, and Molefe – were high-ranking UDF officials. Most were arrested in late 1984, indicted in June 1985, and released on bail by July 1987, though the three UDF leaders were refused bail throughout the trial.
Over the course of three years, the state presented its argument that the UDF had been established at the instigation of the outlawed African National Congress (ANC) and had henceforth become the ANC's co-conspirator in seeking to overthrow the state. The defendants were accused of having, through various non-violent political acts, sought to further the ANC's revolutionary aims, including by deliberately provoking revolt in the Vaal Triangle. Represented by Arthur Chaskalson and George Bizos, the defendants also denied alternative charges of common-purpose murder, terrorism, and other violations of the Internal Security Act.
Three of the accused were acquitted when the prosecution concluded its argument in November 1986, and a further eight were acquitted when Judge Kees van Dijkhorst handed down his verdict in November 1988. The remaining 11 were convicted and were sentenced on 8 December 1988. The three UDF leaders and one other were convicted of treason and sentenced to lengthy terms of imprisonment, while seven others were convicted of terrorism, for which two served prison sentences.
The verdict was overturned on appeal in State v Malindi and Others, handed down in the Supreme Court Appellate Division in Bloemfontein on 15 December 1989. The appeal succeeded on the narrow procedural ground that the trial judge had improperly removed an assessor from the case on the basis of his political sympathies. The 11 convicts were released six weeks before the ANC and other political organisations were unbanned to facilitate the progress of negotiations to end apartheid.