Memory of the World; 2012 - unesdoc - Unesco

to present the rationale behind the actions of the ANC
and Umkhonto to a wide audience in a country where
censorship was strictly enforced. He ended the statement
with the words: ‘I have cherished the ideal of a democratic
and free society in which all persons live together in
harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which
I hope to live for and achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal
for which I am prepared to die’. He was subsequently
sentenced to life in prison but was released in February
1990 and went on to become the first president of a
democratic South Africa on 10 May 1994.
The Rivonia Trial was the first time the white minority
government successfully prosecuted the leadership of the
ANC and thereby initiated the next phase of the struggle
against apartheid that ended with the first democratic
elections on 27 April 1994. Over the years most of the
paper records disappeared from the holdings at the High
Court in Pretoria and this archive contains those that
remain, including three volumes of extracts of evidence by
state witnesses, one volume of evidence for the defence,
one volume of exhibits from Lilliesleaf Farm, the state’s
concluding address, the judgment and the judge’s
comments on sentencing and a recording of the complete
trial, using Dictabelts, a popular recording medium
of the time.
526 Criminal Court Case No. 253/1963 (The State versus N. Mandela and Others)