Mandela made this statement from the dock at the opening of his trial on charges of sabotage, Supreme court of South Africa, Pretoria, April 20 1964.
Throughout the Rivonia Trial,
Nelson Mandela, the anti-apartheid revolutionary and political leader, spoke
for three hours from the defendant's dock instead of testifying. In this
address, he tackled the charges against him and discussed the harsh realities
of apartheid in South Africa. During this period, Mandela faced accusations of
sabotage, and a conviction could have resulted in the imposition of the death
penalty.
I am the first accused. I hold
a bachelor's degree in arts and practised as an attorney in Johannesburg for a
number of years in partnership with Oliver Tambo. I am a convicted prisoner
serving five years for leaving the country without a permit and for inciting
people to go on strike at the end of May 1961.
At the outset, I want to say
that the suggestion that the struggle in South Africa is under the influence of
foreigners or communists is wholly incorrect. I have done whatever I did
because of my experience in South Africa and my own proudly felt African
background, and not because of what any outsider might have said. In my youth
in the Transkei I listened to the elders of my tribe telling stories of the old
days. Amongst the tales they related to me were those of wars fought by our
ancestors in defence of the fatherland. The names of Dingane and Bambata, Hintsa
and Makana, Squngthi and Dalasile, Moshoeshoe and Sekhukhuni, were praised as
the glory of the entire African nation. I hoped then that life might offer me
the opportunity to serve my people and make my own humble contribution to their
freedom struggle.
Some of the things so far told
to the court are true and some are untrue. I do not, however, deny that I
planned sabotage. I did not plan it in a spirit of recklessness, nor because I
have any love of violence. I planned it as a result of a calm and sober assessment
of the political situation that had arisen after many years of tyranny,
exploitation, and oppression of my people by the whites.
I admit immediately that I was
one of the persons who helped to form Umkhonto we Sizwe. I deny that Umkhonto
was responsible for a number of acts which clearly fell outside the policy of
the organisation, and which have been charged in the indictment against us. I,
and the others who started the organisation, felt that without violence there
would be no way open to the African people to succeed in their struggle against
the principle of white supremacy. All lawful modes of expressing opposition to
this principle had been closed by legislation, and we were placed in a position
in which we had either to accept a permanent state of inferiority, or to defy
the government. We chose to defy the law.
We first broke the law in a way
which avoided any recourse to violence; when this form was legislated against,
and then the government resorted to a show of force to crush opposition to its
policies, only then did we decide to answer violence with violence.
The African National Congress
was formed in 1912 to defend the rights of the African people, which had been
seriously curtailed. For 37 years - that is, until 1949 - it adhered strictly
to a constitutional struggle. But white governments remained unmoved, and the
rights of Africans became less instead of becoming greater. Even after 1949,
the ANC remained determined to avoid violence. At this time, however, the
decision was taken to protest against apartheid by peaceful, but unlawful,
demonstrations. More than 8,500 people went to jail. Yet there was not a single
instance of violence. I and 19 colleagues were convicted for organising the
campaign, but our sentences were suspended mainly because the judge found that
discipline and non-violence had been stressed throughout.
During the defiance campaign,
the Public Safety Act and the Criminal Law Amendment Act were passed. These
provided harsher penalties for protests against [the] laws. Despite this, the
protests continued and the ANC adhered to its policy of non-violence. In 1956,
156 leading members of the Congress Alliance, including myself, were arrested.
The non-violent policy of the ANC was put in issue by the state, but when the
court gave judgment some five years later, it found that the ANC did not have a
policy of violence.
In 1960 there was the shooting
at Sharpeville, which resulted in the declaration of the ANC as an unlawful
organisation. My colleagues man and I, after careful consideration, decided
that we would not obey this decree. The African people were not part of the
government and did not make the laws by which they were governed. We believed
in the words of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that "the will
of the people shall be the basis of authority of the government", and for
us to accept the banning was equivalent to accepting the silencing of the
Africans for all time. The ANC refused to dissolve, but instead went
underground.
In 1960 the government held a
referendum which led to the establishment of the republic. Africans, who
constituted approximately 70% of the population, were not entitled to vote, and
were not even consulted. I undertook to be responsible for organising the
national stay-at-home called to coincide with the declaration of the republic.
As all strikes by Africans are illegal, the person organising such a strike
must avoid arrest. I had to leave my home and family and my practice and go
into hiding to avoid arrest. The stay-at-home was to be a peaceful
demonstration. Careful instructions were given to avoid any recourse to
violence.
The government's answer was to
introduce new and harsher laws, to mobilise its armed forces, and to send
Saracens, armed vehicles, and soldiers into the townships in a massive show of
force designed to intimidate the people. The government had decided to rule by
force alone, and this decision was a milestone on the road to Umkhonto. What
were we, the leaders of our people, to do? We had no doubt that we had to
continue the fight. Anything else would have been abject surrender. Our problem
was not whether to fight, but was how to continue the fight.
We of the ANC had always stood
for a non-racial democracy, and we shrank from any action which might drive the
races further apart. But the hard facts were that 50 years of non-violence had
brought the African people nothing but more and more repressive legislation,
and fewer and fewer rights. By this time violence had, in fact, become a
feature of the South African political scene.
There had been violence in 1957
when the women of Zeerust were ordered to carry passes; there was violence in
1958 with the enforcement of cattle culling in Sekhukhuneland; there was
violence in 1959 when the people of Cato Manor protested against pass raids;
there was violence in 1960 when the government attempted to impose Bantu authorities
in Pondoland. Each disturbance pointed to the inevitable growth among Africans
of the belief that violence was the only way out - it showed that a government
which uses force to maintain its rule teaches the oppressed to use force to
oppose it.
I came to the conclusion that
as violence in this country was inevitable, it would be unrealistic to continue
preaching peace and non-violence. This conclusion was not easily arrived at. It
was only when all else had failed, when all channels of peaceful protest had
been barred to us, that the decision was made to embark on violent forms of
political struggle. I can only say that I felt morally obliged to do what I
did.
Four forms of violence were
possible. There is sabotage, there is guerrilla warfare, there is terrorism,
and there is open revolution. We chose to adopt the first. Sabotage did not
involve loss of life, and it offered the best hope for future race relations.
Bitterness would be kept to a minimum and, if the policy bore fruit, democratic
government could become a reality. The initial plan was based on a careful
analysis of the political and economic situation of our country. We believed
that South Africa depended to a large extent on foreign capital. We felt that
planned destruction of power plants, and interference with rail and telephone
communications, would scare away capital from the country, thus compelling the
voters of the country to reconsider their position. Umkhonto had its first
operation on December 16 1961, when government buildings in Johannesburg, Port
Elizabeth and Durban were attacked. The selection of targets is proof of the
policy to which I have referred. Had we intended to attack life we would have
selected targets where people congregated and not empty buildings and power stations.
The whites failed to respond by
suggesting change; they responded to our call by suggesting the laager. In
contrast, the response of the Africans was one of encouragement. Suddenly there
was hope again. People began to speculate on how soon freedom would be
obtained.
But we in Umkhonto weighed up
the white response with anxiety. The lines were being drawn. The whites and
blacks were moving into separate camps, and the prospects of avoiding a civil
war were made less. The white newspapers carried reports that sabotage would be
punished by death. If this was so, how could we continue to keep Africans away
from terrorism?
We felt it our duty to make
preparations to use force in order to defend ourselves against force. We
decided, therefore to make provision for the possibility of guerrilla warfare.
All whites undergo compulsory military training, but no such training was given
to Africans. It was in our view essential to build up a nucleus of trained men
who would be able to provide the leadership which would be required if
guerrilla warfare started.
At this stage it was decided
that I should attend the Conference of the Pan-African Freedom Movement which
was to be held early in 1962 in Addis Ababa, and after the conference, I would
undertake a tour of the African states with a view to obtaining facilities for
the training of soldiers. My tour was a success. Wherever I went I met sympathy
for our cause and promises of help. All Africa was united against the stand of
white South Africa, and even in London I was received with great sympathy by
political leaders, such as Mr Gaitskell and Mr Grimond.
I started to make a study of
the art of war and revolution and, whilst abroad, underwent a course in
military training. If there was to be guerrilla warfare, I wanted to be able to
stand and fight with my people and to share the hazards of war with them.
On my return I found that there
had been little alteration in the political scene save, that the threat of a
death penalty for sabotage had now become a fact.
Another of the allegations made
by the state is that the aims and objects of the ANC and the Communist party
are the same. The creed of the ANC is, and always has been, the creed of
African nationalism. It is not the concept of African nationalism expressed in
the cry, "Drive the white man into the sea." The African nationalism
for which the ANC stands is the concept of freedom and fulfilment for the
African people in their own land. The most important political document ever
adopted by the ANC is the "freedom charter". It is by no means a
blueprint for a socialist state. It calls for redistribution, but not
nationalisation, of land; it provides for nationalisation of mines, banks, and
monopoly industry, because big monopolies are owned by one race only, and
without such nationalisation racial domination would be perpetuated despite the
spread of political power. Under the freedom charter, nationalisation would
take place in an economy based on private enterprise.
As far as the Communist party
is concerned, and if I understand its policy correctly, it stands for the
establishment of a state based on the principles of Marxism. The Communist
party sought to emphasise class distinctions whilst the ANC seeks to harmonise
them. This is a vital distinction.
It is true that there has often
been close cooperation between the ANC and the Communist party. But cooperation
is merely proof of a common goal - in this case the removal of white supremacy
- and is not proof of a complete community of interests. The history of the
world is full of similar examples. Perhaps the most striking is the cooperation
between Great Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union in the fight
against Hitler. Nobody but Hitler would have dared to suggest that such
cooperation turned Churchill or Roosevelt into communists. Theoretical
differences amongst those fighting against oppression is a luxury we cannot
afford at this stage.
What is more, for many decades
communists were the only political group in South Africa prepared to treat
Africans as human beings and their equals; who were prepared to eat with us;
talk with us, live with us, and work with us. They were the only group which
was prepared to work with the Africans for the attainment of political rights
and a stake in society. Because of this, there are many Africans who, today,
tend to equate freedom with communism. They are supported in this belief by a
legislature which brands all exponents of democratic government and African
freedom as communists and bans many of them (who are not communists) under the
Suppression of Communism Act. Although I have never been a member of the
Communist party, I myself have been imprisoned under that act.
I have always regarded myself,
in the first place, as an African patriot. Today I am attracted by the idea of
a classless society, an attraction which springs in part from Marxist reading
and, in part, from my admiration of the structure of early African societies.
The land belonged to the tribe. There were no rich or poor and there was no exploitation.
We all accept the need for some form of socialism to enable our people to catch
up with the advanced countries of this world and to overcome their legacy of
extreme poverty. But this does not mean we are Marxists.
I have gained the impression
that communists regard the parliamentary system of the west as reactionary.
But, on the contrary, I am an admirer. The Magna Carta, the Petition of Right,
and the Bill of Rights are documents held in veneration by democrats throughout
the world. I have great respect for British institutions, and for the country's
system of justice. I regard the British parliament as the most democratic
institution in the world, and the impartiality of its judiciary never fails to
arouse my admiration. The American Congress, that country's separation of
powers, as well as the independence of its judiciary, arouses in me similar
sentiments.
I have been influenced in my
thinking by both west and east. I should tie myself to no particular system of
society other than of socialism. I must leave myself free to borrow the best from
the west and from the east.
Our fight is against real, and
not imaginary, hardships or, to use the language of the state prosecutor,
"so-called hardships". Basically, we fight against two features which
are the hallmarks of African life in South Africa and which are entrenched by
legislation. These features are poverty and lack of human dignity, and we do
not need communists or so-called "agitators" to teach us about these
things. South Africa is the richest country in Africa, and could be one of the
richest countries in the world. But it is a land of remarkable contrasts. The
whites enjoy what may be the highest standard of living in the world, whilst
Africans live in poverty and misery. Poverty goes hand in hand with
malnutrition and disease. Tuberculosis, pellagra and scurvy bring death and
destruction of health.
The complaint of Africans,
however, is not only that they are poor and the whites are rich, but that the
laws which are made by the whites are designed to preserve this situation.
There are two ways to break out of poverty. The first is by formal education,
and the second is by the worker acquiring a greater skill at his work and thus
higher wages. As far as Africans are concerned, both these avenues of
advancement are deliberately curtailed by legislation.
The government has always
sought to hamper Africans in their search for education. There is compulsory
education for all white children at virtually no cost to their parents, be they
rich or poor. African children, however, generally have to pay more for their
schooling than whites.
Approximately 40% of African
children in the age group seven to 14 do not attend school. For those who do,
the standards are vastly different from those afforded to white children. Only
5,660 African children in the whole of South Africa passed their junior
certificate in 1962, and only 362 passed matric.
This is presumably consistent
with the policy of Bantu education about which the present prime minister said:
"When I have control of native education I will reform it so that natives
will be taught from childhood to realise that equality with Europeans is not
for them. People who believe in equality are not desirable teachers for
natives. When my department controls native education it will know for what
class of higher education a native is fitted, and whether he will have a chance
in life to use his knowledge."
The other main obstacle to the
advancement of the African is the industrial colour-bar under which all the
better jobs of industry are reserved for whites only. Moreover, Africans who do
obtain employment in the unskilled and semi-skilled occupations open to them
are not allowed to form trade unions which have recognition. This means that
they are denied the right of collective bargaining, which is permitted to the
better-paid white workers.
The government answers its
critics by saying that Africans in South Africa are better off than the
inhabitants of the other countries in Africa. I do not know whether this
statement is true. But even if it is true, as far as the African people are
concerned it is irrelevant.
Our complaint is not that we
are poor by comparison with people in other countries, but that we are poor by
comparison with the white people in our own country, and that we are prevented
by legislation from altering this imbalance.
The lack of human dignity
experienced by Africans is the direct result of the policy of white supremacy.
White supremacy implies black inferiority. Legislation designed to preserve
white supremacy entrenches this notion. Menial tasks in South Africa are invariably
performed by Africans.
When anything has to be carried
or cleaned the white man will look around for an African to do it for him,
whether the African is employed by him or not. Because of this sort of
attitude, whites tend to regard Africans as a separate breed. They do not look
upon them as people with families of their own; they do not realise that they
have emotions - that they fall in love like white people do; that they want to
be with their wives and children like white people want to be with theirs; that
they want to earn enough money to support their families properly, to feed and
clothe them and send them to school. And what "house-boy" or
"garden-boy" or labourer can ever hope to do this?
Pass laws render any African
liable to police surveillance at any time. I doubt whether there is a single
African male in South Africa who has not had a brush with the police over his
pass. Hundreds and thousands of Africans are thrown into jail each year under
pass laws.
Even worse is the fact that
pass laws keep husband and wife apart and lead to the breakdown of family life.
Poverty and the breakdown of family have secondary effects. Children wander the
streets because they have no schools to go to, or no money to enable them to
go, or no parents at home to see that they go, because both parents (if there
be two) have to work to keep the family alive. This leads to a breakdown in
moral standards, to an alarming rise in illegitimacy, and to violence, which
erupts not only politically, but everywhere. Life in the townships is dangerous.
Not a day goes by without somebody being stabbed or assaulted. And violence is
carried out of the townships [into] the white living areas. People are afraid
to walk the streets after dark. Housebreakings and robberies are increasing,
despite the fact that the death sentence can now be imposed for such offences.
Death sentences cannot cure the festering sore.
Africans want to be paid a
living wage. Africans want to perform work which they are capable of doing, and
not work which the government declares them to be capable of. Africans want to
be allowed to live where they obtain work, and not be endorsed out of an area
because they were not born there. Africans want to be allowed to own land in
places where they work, and not to be obliged to live in rented houses which
they can never call their own. Africans want to be part of the general
population, and not confined to living in their own ghettoes.
African men want to have their
wives and children to live with them where they work, and not be forced into an
unnatural existence in men's hostels. African women want to be with their
menfolk and not be left permanently widowed in the reserves. Africans want to
be allowed out after 11 o'clock at night and not to be confined to their rooms
like little children. Africans want to be allowed to travel in their own
country and to seek work where they want to and not where the labour bureau
tells them to. Africans want a just share in the whole of South Africa; they
want security and a stake in society.
Above all, we want equal
political rights, because without them our disabilities will be permanent. I
know this sounds revolutionary to the whites in this country, because the
majority of voters will be Africans. This makes the white man fear democracy.
But this fear cannot be allowed to stand in the way of the only solution which
will guarantee racial harmony and freedom for all. It is not true that the
enfranchisement of all will result in racial domination. Political division,
based on colour, is entirely artificial and, when it disappears, so will the
domination of one colour group by another. The ANC has spent half a century
fighting against racialism. When it triumphs it will not change that policy.
This then is what the ANC is
fighting. Their struggle is a truly national one. It is a struggle of the
African people, inspired by their own suffering and their own experience. It is
a struggle for the right to live. During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to
this struggle of the African people. 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.
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