Upcoming Article: Rivonia vs Bethal-the truth about South Africa

NB:HERE IS THE BACKGROUND OF THE ARTICLE. THIS IS FOR YOU THE READER TO BE FAMILIAR WITH THE TWO TRIALS IN ORDER TO COMPREHEND THE REASON AN LOGIC BEHIND ARTICLE. INFORMATION ACCESSED THROUGH SABC TRC SPECIAL REPORT. Bethal Treason Trial: In 1978, four of eighty-six ‘co-conspirators’ charged with furthering the aims of the PAC died in police custody while awaiting trial. These detainees were Mr Naoboth Ntshuntsha Mr Bonaventure Malaza, Mr Aaron Khoza (who died in Pietermaritzburg), and Mr Samuel Malinga. The police alleged that all four had committed suicide. The eighty-six accused were part of a major trial of PAC members, which began in February 1978, in which eighteen members of the PAC, including PAC leader Mr Robert Sobukwe, Mr Zephaniah Mothopeng and Mr Mark Shinners, were charged under the Terrorism Act with furthering the aims of the organisation. Other charges related to alleged recruitment of people to undergo military training for the PAC abroad; the use of a religious organisation, the Young African Religious Movement, as a cover; encouraging violence and sabotage during unrest in Kagiso in 1977, and attempting to re-activate the PAC. They subsequently were sentenced to life imprisonment and shipped to Robben Island .The trial came to be known as the Bethal Treason Trial. It was held in the small rural town of Bethal in order to isolate the accused and reduce media coverage. The trial was also held in camera. Only journalists with cards signed by the commissioner of police were allowed to attend the hearings. The Rivonia Trial was a trial that took place in South Africa between 1963 and 1964, in which ten leaders of the African National Congress were tried for 221 acts of sabotage designed to overthrow the apartheid system. This trial was made after the police raid on the MK base in Rivonia, which showed documents of relations to the 10 accused men. The trial was essentially a mechanism through which the apartheid government could hurt or mute the ANC and allied organizations. Its leaders, including Nelson Mandela, who was already in Johannesburg's Fort prison serving a five-year sentence for inciting workers to strike and leaving the country illegally, were prosecuted, found guilty, and imprisoned. The apartheid regime's attack on the ANC's leadership and organizers continued with a trial known as Little Rivonia, in which other ANC members were prosecuted for sabotage. Amongst the defendants in this trial was the chief of MK, Wilton Mkwayi who was sentenced to life imprisonment alongside Mandela and the other ANC leaders on Robben Island. The government took advantage of 90 days without trial, and the defendants were held incommunicado. Each of the ten accused pleaded not guilty. The trial ended on 12 June 1964.