Research Catalog

Details

Description

1. 0.63 linear feet (2 boxes)

Summary

1. This collection consists of a photocopy of the decision of the South Africa conspiracy trial in 1988. The records include references to, and police reports on the Release Mandela Campaign of the 1980s, Rivonia, and campaigns for the release of Nelson Mandela and all political prisoners. The records also include state prosecution assessments of witness statements.

Subject

1. South Africa
2. South Africa > Social conditions
3. Azanian People's Organization
4. United Democratic Front (South Africa)
5. Political parties > South Africa
6. Lekota, Patrick
7. Apartheid
8. Molefe, Popo Simon, 1952-
9. Anti-apartheid movements
10. African National Congress
11. Mandela, Nelson, 1918-2013
12. Trials (Sedition) > South Africa

Call number

1. Sc MG 562

Note

1. In 1984-1985, during a State of Emergency in South Africa, the apartheid government banned AZAPO and other Black Consciousness movements for the second time. The apartheid government became notorious for its use of State of Emergencies in an attempt to exert complete control over Black, Colored, and Indian South Africans. The apartheid government’s complete clamp-down of citizens’ rights resulted in the numerous house arrests of influential anti-apartheid leaders, and the detaining of 2346 people under the Internal Security Act, in the attempts of ending internal resistance to the state’s power. Under the State of Emergency, the apartheid government militarized and heavily policed all aspects of South African society-- which heightened feelings of mutual tension, paranoia, and distrust between South Africans. Though effective in disrupting a number of anti-apartheid organizations by arresting a number of their leaders, the State of Emergency was not effective in "governing the ungovernable" townships, as violent protests and fierce resistance continued against the state. The Delmas Treason Trial, held in December 1988 in South Africa, accused 22 individuals, including Baleka Kgositsle, Popo Molefe, Patrick "Terror" Lekota, and Moses Chikane, of treason. This trial was the longest running political trial in South Africa's history. It focused on the activities of the United Democratic Front (UDF), the largest organization in South Atrica opposing apartheid by peaceful means. The convictions and harsh sentences delivered made it a "crime" to participate or take a leadership role in the movement of peaceful opposition to apartheid.

Source (note)

1. Unknown, but possibly from J. Wayne Fredericks or his wife, Anne Curtis Fredericks; the index includes his signature, so this document might have been his copy.

Location of other archival materials (note)

1. See also Collection 107-South Africa Conspiracy Trial, Mandela materials, Nelson Mandela Foundation Archive, accessed August 21, 2020 https://archive.nelsonmandela.org/index.php/za-com-mm-107.

Title

1. South Africa conspiracy trial decision collection.

Production

1. 1984-1988.

Type of content

1. text
2. still image

Type of medium

1. unmediated

Type of carrier

1. sheet

Location of other archival materials

1. See also Collection 107-South Africa Conspiracy Trial, Mandela materials, Nelson Mandela Foundation Archive, accessed August 21, 2020 https://archive.nelsonmandela.org/index.php/za-com-mm-107.

Source

1. Unknown, but possibly from J. Wayne Fredericks or his wife, Anne Curtis Fredericks; the index includes his signature, so this document might have been his copy.

Connect to:

1. Finding aid

Research call number

1. Sc MG 562