The Treason Trial Defendants

© Dr Peter Magubane
Three of the Treason Trial defendants arrive at Pretoria, August 1958. From left to right: Robert Resha, Patrick Moloa and Nelson Mandela.

Various political activists, including Nelson Mandela, who was a lawyer at the time stood accused of treason in the 1950’s apartheid years.

These activists, who included Mandela, Ruth First, Z.K. Mathews and Lionel "Rusty" Bernstein drafted and adopted the Freedom Charter that spoke to the power of the people of South Africa.

The Apartheid government then orchestrated a raid on these activists that led to the Treason Trial of 1956 that lasted for 11 years. In 1961, all those accused were acquitted and discharged.

Pictured is three of the Treason Trial defendants arriving at Pretoria in August 1958. Along with a young Nelson Mandela is African National Congress Youth League members Robert Resha and Patrick Moloa.

"I am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying." ~ Nelson Mandela

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