The Little Rivonia Trial was a South African apartheid-era court case in which several members of the armed resistance organization Umkhonto we Sizwe faced charges of sabotage. The accused were: Laloo Chiba, Dave Kitson, Mac Maharaj, John Matthews and Wilton Mkwayi. A confederate of theirs, Lionel Gay turned state witness, and in return, the prosecution dropped the charges against him.[1]
Judge W. G. Boshoff presided over the November to December 1964 trial, with human rights lawyer George Bizos one of the advocates appearing for the defence. All the accused were found guilty. Maharaj's legal representatives were expecting that he would receive the death penalty for his Central Committee membership of the South African Communist Party, a banned organization at the time. During the sentencing phase Mkwayi would simply say in his defence: "My Lord, I am a professional agitator".[2][3] Mkwayi received a life sentence; Kitson twenty years; Chiba eighteen years; Matthews fifteen years and Maharaj twelve years.[4] While Kitson and Matthews (both white), were imprisoned in Pretoria Central Prison and joined Denis Goldberg and for Mkwayi, Maharaj and Chiba joined Nelson Mandela, Govan Mbeki, Walter Sisulu, and other prominent African National Congress members for hard labour at the famous Robben Island quarry.[5]
^O'Malley, Padraig (2007). Shades of difference. Mac Maharaj and the struggle for South Africa. New York: Viking. pp. 137–146.
^O'Malley, Padraig (2007). Shades of difference. Mac Maharaj and the struggle for South Africa. New York: Viking. pp. 146.
^Trewhela, Paul (Jul 29, 2004). "Obituary: Wilton Mkwayi". Independent, The (London).
^Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa. "Report, Volume 3". Retrieved 2007-06-01.
^Mandela, Nelson (1994). Long walk to freedom. The autobiography of Nelson Mandela. Randburg, South Africa: Macdonald Purnell. pp. 393.
and 26 Related for: Little Rivonia Trial information
The RivoniaTrial was a trial that took place in apartheid-era South Africa between 9 October 1963 and 12 June 1964, after a group of anti-apartheid activists...
The LittleRivoniaTrial was a South African apartheid-era court case in which several members of the armed resistance organization Umkhonto we Sizwe faced...
pursuant to the imprisonment of many of its top leaders in the RivoniaTrial and LittleRivoniaTrial, the ANC was forced into exile. It remained in exile until...
defendants were later convicted in the RivoniaTrial in 1964. Chief Luthuli has said of the Treason Trial: The treason trial must occupy a special place in South...
politician and revolutionary. He was arrested and sentenced at the LittleRivoniaTrial in 1964 with Mac Maharaj and Wilton Mkwayi to join Nelson Mandela...
representing Nelson Mandela during the RivoniaTrial. He instructed Mandela to add the qualification "if needs be" to his trial address, which is credited with...
property in that area under the Group Areas Act. This was followed by the RivoniaTrial, in which 10 leaders of the ANC were tried for 221 militant acts designed...
Defiance Campaign Congress of the People Freedom Charter RivoniaTrialLittleRivoniaTrial uMkhonto we Sizwe Radio Freedom Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College...
March of 1956, Sharpeville massacre of 1960, the RivoniaTrial of 1963 and 1964, the littleRivoniaTrial of 1964, the Soweto Uprising of 1976 and Sharpeville...
imprisoned on Robben Island. November The LittleRivoniaTrial begins. December In the LittleRivoniaTrial, sentence was introduced for another treason:...
including Laloo Chiba and Wilton Mkwayi on charges of sabotage in the littleRivoniaTrial, and was imprisoned on Robben Island with Mandela, Walter Sisulu...
leadership had been arrested, especially during the Treason Trial and later the RivoniaTrial. The ANC therefore set about re-establishing command structures...
novel Mhudi formed part of no literary tradition, and was long regarded as little more than a curiosity." 1970s: interest was stirred in Plaatje's journalistic...
Congress (ANC) led him to his long-term imprisonment following the RivoniaTrial, in which he was held at Robben Island and Pollsmoor Prison. Following...
Defiance Campaign Congress of the People Freedom Charter RivoniaTrialLittleRivoniaTrial uMkhonto we Sizwe Radio Freedom Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College...
Command of Umkhonto we Sizwe. He was sentenced in December 1964 in the littleRivoniaTrial and sent to Robben Island, where he met Nelson Mandela and Govan...
during the RivoniaTrial. He later immigrated to England and wrote an autobiography. Kantor was one of the defence lawyers in the RivoniaTrial until his...
Defiance Campaign Congress of the People Freedom Charter RivoniaTrialLittleRivoniaTrial uMkhonto we Sizwe Radio Freedom Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College...
sentenced to life imprisonment for sabotage in what was known as the "RivoniaTrial", by Justice Dr Quartus de Wet, instead of a possible death sentence...
conducting services. In 1956 he was arrested at the time of the Treason trials and was imprisoned for a short while before being acquitted. His license...
figures, including Nelson Mandela, at the RivoniaTrial. Following the trial, he was himself put on trial accused of furthering communism. He was sentenced...
government. He was arrested and imprisoned in 1962, and, following the RivoniaTrial, was sentenced to life imprisonment for conspiring to overthrow the...
Defiance Campaign Congress of the People Freedom Charter RivoniaTrialLittleRivoniaTrial uMkhonto we Sizwe Radio Freedom Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College...
active in the struggle against apartheid. He was accused No. 3 in the RivoniaTrial, alongside the better-known Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu, where...
trade unionist from Port Elizabeth, who stood accused of treason at the RivoniaTrial. Christina Jasson was born in 1928. She worked as a clerk in Port Elizabeth...
Global Information