Item Belt 1b - DB - Dr Percy Yutar sets out case

This day contained a number of significant moments in the sequence of the trial’s proceedings. The first of these significant moments was the hearing of pleas from the ten accused. Appearing in order of their assigned numbers, each of the accused stood and pleaded not guilty. In what has become a defining moment of the Rivonia Trial, each of the accused supplemented their pleas of not guilty with bold political statements. All expressed the view that the apartheid government should be on trial, and not the defendants. Only Accused No.8, James Kantor, did not associate himself with this view and merely stated to the court that he was not guilty. In response to this unusual situation, Judge De Wet hurriedly exclaimed, “I don’t want any political speeches; you must plead guilty or not guilty to the charges … nothing else”. Yet, the judge’s remarks had no effect on the politically- charged pleas given by nine of the ten accused.

The next significant moment was Dr Yutar’s delivery of the opening address of the State’s case. According to the historian, Kenneth Broun, the opening address by Dr Yutar was “uncharacteristically concise” and from a legal perspective, he argues, it was perhaps the best work that Dr Yutar produced throughout the entire trial.  In the opening address, Dr Yutar explained that proof for the state's case would come from a selection of documents seized during the police raids of Rivonia (11th July, 1963), Travallyn (27th August, 1963) and Mountain View (5th September, 1963), as well as from oral evidence given by circa.200 witnesses.

Following Dr Yutar's opening address, George Bizos informed the court that his colleagues, Mr Fischer and Mr Berrange, were engaged in other part-heard matters, which would require their respective involvement at certain periods during the trial. This, combined with other considerations, led the defence team tow divide the work for the trial amongst themselves. Mr Bizos, Mr Fischer and Mr Chaskalson were to appear for Accused Nos. 1, 2 and 4; Mr Bizos and Mr Berrange for Accused Nos. 3 and 5; Mr Fischer, Mr Berrange and Mr Chaskalson would appear for Accused No. 6; Mr Bizos, Mr Berrange, and Mr Chaskalson for Accused No. 7; Mr Bizos alone would appear for Accused No. 9; and, lastly, Mr Chaskalson would appear for Accused No. 10. His own council would represent accused No.8, James Kantor, and Mr Coaker was to appear for him.

Dr Yutar then provided an explanation regarding the numbering of exhibits. He stated that exhibits would all be labelled and identified numerically, starting from number one. Those found at Rivonia would be preceded by the letter R; those from Travallyn marked T; those from Mountain View marked M; and those that came from, or affected directly, James Kantor would be marked K. Other documents, such as plans and photos, would be given the markings A, B, C, D, and so on. Thereafter, Dr Yutar informed the court of the prosecution's plans to call 13 witnesses during the first week, the first ten of which did not affect Accused No. 8, and the last three of which did.

The final point of significance of this day was the first hearing of evidence by state witnesses, as detailed below.

Witnesses Called

1st State Witness: D/Sgt Frederik Johannes Van Biljoen – Police photographer.
Examination-in-chief by Mr Naudé.

D/Sgt Frederik Johannes Van Biljoen was a police photographer who went with Sgt Dirker to Liliesleaf Farm on 11th July, 1963. There he took photographs and drew up the plan of the house and outbuildings at Liliesleaf Farm which was submitted to court as Exhibit A.

His examination-in-chief consists almost entirely of his descriptions of the photographs taken of Liliesleaf Farm, Travallyn and Mountain View which were Exhibit B. He also attended the raid on Mountain View and prepared the plan, Exhibit C.

Cross-examination reserved.

2nd State Witness: Enith (Kgopane) Kopani – House-worker, Rivonia.

Examination-in-chief by Dr Yutar.

Mr and Mrs Goldreich employed Enith Kopani sometime in July, 1960, as a house-worker whilst they were living in Parktown. When the Goldreichs moved to Liliesleaf Farm in December, 1961, Enith Kopani continued her employment as a house-worker at this new location. In the main, the examination-in-chief consisted of her identifying several of the accused and named co-conspirators who visited Liliesleaf Farm, including where they stayed and what they did. This was done with constant reference to Exhibit A and Exhibit D – which was a photograph album of the accused and conspirators.

Enith Kopani was also required to identify typewriters and other machinery seized during the raid of Rivonia, as depicted in Exhibit B. Of key importance to the prosecution's case was Enith Kopani's identification of the first six defendants – Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Denis Goldberg, Govan Mbeki, Ahmed Mohamed Kathrada, and Lionel “Rusty” Bernstein – as well as advocate Joseph Slovo, as having frequently visted or resided at Liliesleaf Farm, and in the Thatched Cottage in particular, at various times since 1961.

Cross-examination by Mr Bizos.

Mr Bizos only completed a portion of his cross-examination of Enith Kopani on this day. It is interesting to note that he based much of his cross-examination on what are notably humanist grounds, by asking the witness about her imprisonment and by gesturing to the extremely harsh and inhumane conditions under which she was detained. From a legal and strategic perspective, it appears that Mr Bizos perused this line of questioning to expose the constant pressure put on the witness, Enith Kopani, by the police, to provde information she claimed not to know, while she was held in physically and mentally traumatising conditions, with no foreseeable end in sight, during the 90-day detention period. In his questioning, Mr Bizos also emphasized the fact that Enith Kopani was not confident that she could identify Accused No.3, Denis Goldberg, as a person she saw visiting the Thatched Cottage at Liliesleaf, without his beard. Even when consulting the photograph album, Exhibit D, which contained both a picture of a bearded and non-bearded Denis Goldberg, she was unconvinced that they were images of the same person.

3rd State Witness: Solomon Sepedi – House-worker, Rivonia.

Examination-in-chief by Dr Yutar.

Solomon Sepedi was first employed by the Goldreich family in December, 1958, and worked alongside Enith Kopani at several of the family's properties, including Rivonia. His examination-in-chief was very similar to that of Enith Kopani, as both identified the first six defendants as frequent visitors to or residents of Liliesleaf Farm, and the Thatched Cottage in particular.  

As with the previous witness, Solomon Sepedi identified Accused No. 5, Ahmed Kathrada, as having handled printing machinery (depicted in photographs 11 and 12 of Exhibit B) whilst at Liliesleaf Farm. Solomon Sepedi also identified Accused No. 7, Raymond Mhlaba, as someone who visited the Thatched Cottage, but he did not recognise him in the courtroom without a beard. Dr Yutar also questioned this witness extensively on the presence of underground wires on the Liliesleaf property used for broadcasting on Radio Freedom.

Sources

Dictabelts: (Vol.48/6A/1b) (Vol.48/6A/2b) (Vol.48/6A/3b) (Vol.48/6A/4b) (Vol.48/6A/5b) (Vol.48/6B/6b) (Vol.48/6B/7b) (Vol.48/6B/8b) (Vol.48/6B/9).
Percy Yutar Papers:
Indictment, Annexures and Opening Address by Dr Yutar (MS.385/1).
Copy of Opening Address by Dr Yutar submitted to the Court (MS.385/35/5).
Alphabetical list of exhibits and some exhibits (MS.385/14).
Exhibit B. Photograph album of Rivonia, Travallyn and Mountain View (MS.385/15).
Photograph Album of Accused and Conspirators (MS.385/19).
WITS Historical Papers:
Defence Team's abridged transcripts on Witnesses (AD1844.A6.1).