Many say it was the trial that changed South Africa.
Kenneth Broun, author of “Saving Nelson Mandela: The Rivonia Trial and the Fate of South Africa,” agrees. He discussed the significance of the trial and its unexpected outcome Nov. 12 at Elon University.
“The trial changed South Africa in the sense Nelson Mandela lived, but I think the international coverage and the attention paid to South Africa was focused after the trial,” he said. “While the government was somewhat successful in getting its anticommunist sentiment out, the defendants were even more successful in getting the plight of the blacks in South Africa out to the world, and at that time, antiapartheid movement took off. Rivonia was the moment that begun.”
In 1963, Nelson Mandela and nine other opponents of South Africa's apartheid regime were tried on accounts of sabotage of the African National Congress, which instituted the apartheid system in the country, and their lives were on the line. Their executions seemed imminent, according to Broun, for the prosecution secured and presented documents proving their efforts to sabotage the government and plan guerilla warfare.
But Mandela and several others were sentenced to life in prison, not death. Broun said this unexpected verdict was influenced by the creative efforts of the defense team, which didn’t rebut the indictments, but rather insisted the defendants were careful not to endanger human life while sabotaging the ANC.
Mandela also addressed the court for nearly four hours, a speech that significantly impacted its decision to repeal his death sentence, according to Brown.
Broun identified one part of Mandela’s speech as particularly impactful:
“During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people,” Mandela said. “I have fought against white domination, and I have 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. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”
Though Mandela’s speech moved many, there were several other factors that influenced the court’s decision to sentence the men to life in prison, including the demographics of both the prosecution and the defense teams.
“I leave it to you to read the book to learn why the sentence changed,” Broun said.
Elon University is hosting several other events this week to honor the life of Nelson Mandela. On Nov. 13 and 15, students will read excerpts from his speeches outside in Speaker’s Corner near Moseley Center, or in the lobby of Center for the Arts during rain.