Item Belt 21b - DB - Joseph Mashifana [Mashifane/Mashiyana/Mashipane]

Description

As with the previous day, proceedings began with the defence recalling a number of state witnesses for cross-examination. After which, Dr Yutar called another witness for the state. This person was also a farmworker at Rivonia and, like the others, was being held in custody at the time of his appearance in court.

The cross-examination of Joseph Mashifane was, arguably, a significant moment, for, as historians have argued, it proved to be a significant victory for the defence team during these early stages of the Trial.

Witnesses Called

5th State Witness: Valeloo Percival Jelliman – European Farmworker, Rivonia. (Recalled).
Cross-examination by Mr Chaskalson.
Mr Chaskalson requested that Valeloo Jelliman be called first for cross-examination because he was “rather ailing”. The cross-examination was very brief; Mr Chaskalson prompted Valeloo Jelliman to admit that he was not, to his recollection, paid by Lionel Bernstein when employed at Rivonia and that at the time of his membership in the Friends of the Soviet Union, it was a respectable organisation.

Re-examination by Dr Yutar
In his re-examination, Dr Yutar stressed the point that Lionel Bernstein may well have paid Mr Jelliman at some point but that the witness could not be certain of this. Furthermore, he also prompted the witness to admit that, on at least one occasion, he (Jelliman) had seen Lionel Bernstein addressing meetings of a communist nature on the City Hall steps.

4th State Witness: Thomas Mashifana [Mashifane] – Farmworker, Rivonia. (Recalled).
Cross-examination by Mr Bizos.
As with the other house and farmworkers from Rivonia already cross-examined, during his cross-examination, Thomas Mashifana acknowledged that the dates he provided concerning the comings and goings of people at Liliesleaf Farm were not completely accurate. The witness was also asked numerous clarifcatory questions about the erection of poles and the digging of a furrow to run a radio wire across the Liliesleaf property.

Re-examination by Dr Yutar.
Of particular interest is the moment in which Thomas Mashifana, during his re-examination, volunteered a highly descriptive and affected statement about his experience in police custody. Thomas Mashifana told the court that police told him that the statement he provided during his detention after his arrest on the 11th July, 1963, was ‘not proper’. The police told him to undress and he did. He told the court that he was then forced by a group of police officers to run naked around the table in the interrogation room whilst being kicked and beaten.

In telling of his experience of police brutality, and of the injuries he sustained as a result, Thomas Mashifana posed a question to the judge: “why was I assaulted like that when I was not committing any offence?” Judge De Wet simply responded with the statement, “Well, yes, you can make a complaint and it will be investigated”. Thomas Mashifana informed the Judge that he had made a report but that nothing had come of it as of yet.

Dr Yutar insisted to the Judge that when he previously asked this witness if he had been ill-treated in custody, he had responded, “No”. Judge De Wet said that he was not going to follow it up and that the prosecution should do so. Judge De Wet’s concern seemed only to be that the treatment of Thomas Mashifana might have influenced his statement, leading him to tell the court something that was not true.

Thomas Mashifana explained that what he had said to the court was true. However, he went on, “certain things I said, I did not say as I wanted to say” and this is because “when a person is being killed you cannot speak as you would otherwise speak, if you were not suffering pain”.

6th State Witness: Joseph Mashifana [Mashifane/Mashiyana/Mashipane] – Farmworker, Rivonia. (Recalled).
Cross-examination by Mr Chaskalson and Mr Bizos.
The main point of interest in this cross-examination was the questioning of Joseph Mashifana’s identification, albeit tentative, of Lionel Bernstein as having been personally and extensively involved in the erection of the radio masts for broadcasting on the Rivonia property. Despite the witness’s insistence that he had seen Accused No.6 involved in this activity, Mr Chaskalson was able to prove that it was impossible for Lionel Bernstein to have been present at Liliesleaf on the day in question, because he was under an order of house arrest. According to the historian, Kenneth Broun, Arthur Chaskalson’s cross-examination of Joseph Mashifana was a success for the defence in the early stages of the trial.

Following Mr Chaskalson, Mr Bizos engaged in a cross-examination of the witness. Mr Bizos strengthened the defence’s case at this point, by casting significant doubt on the validity of Joseph Mashifana’s statement and, in particular, his inconsistent identifications of several of the accused at Liliesleaf Farm.

An exemplary moment was when Mr Bizos pressed Joseph Mashifana to say why he had not mentioned to the prosecution that he had seen, as he now claimed, Accused No.4, Govan Mbeki, digging the furrow in which the radio wire was placed and buried. In his response, the witness said, “Because I have to tell the truth”. This was the first of many indications arising from Mr Bizos’ cross-examination that demonstrated that the witness’s evidence was dubious, contradictory, and unreliable. In closing his cross-examination, Mr Bizos put it to the witness that he was confused and that he did not remember all of the things that he said he remembered.

The prosecution requested no re-examination. Dr Yutar stated that the issue of Thomas Mashifana’s ill-treatment had been reported to a senior police official, but that the witness requested that neither the police nor Dr Yutar take any further action.

8th State Witness: Rasmus Makula – Farmworker, Rivonia. (Recalled).
Cross-examination by Mr Bizos and Mr Coaker.
Mr Bizos’ brief cross-examination highlighted that the witness was only ever concerned with his own work at Rivonia and that he did not spend much time at all, day or night, near the Thatched Cottage.

Mr Coaker’s cross-examination rested on exposing Rasmus Makula’s identification of Accused No.8, James Kantor, as the man depicted in photo No.3 of Exhibit D, as false. The witness admited this was a mistake, he was confused because of the similarities between the beard of Accused No.8 in court, and the beard of Denis Goldberg depicted in photo No.3 of Exhibit D. Following further exposure of misidentification concerning Accused Nos. 6, 3 and 8, on the part of this witness, Dr Yutar informed the court that he will not rely on the identifcations so far made and joked about having himself now recognised the danger of “the beard issue”.

No re-examination requested.
9th State Witness: Thwadi Makena – Farmworker, Rivonia.
Examination-in-chief by Dr Yutar.
Thwadi Makena recollected seeing a young European woman using a microphone outside the Thatched Cottage during a day (the date of which he could not remember). Aside from this, his was similar to that of previous farmworker witnesses, and did little more than tie several of the accused to Liliesleaf Farm and the Thatched Cottage.

No cross-examination requested.

10th State Witness: Frank Mohohloane [Hlotloane] – Farmworker, Rivonia.
Examination-in-chief by Dr Yutar.
Frank Mohohloane’s examination-in-chief followed the same pattern as those that preceded it. The witness was asked to point out the accused in the courtroom, whom he had seen at Rivonia. Thereafter, he was asked to identify certain people, rooms, and machinery depicted in the photographs of Exhibits D and B. Once again, the witness identified Accused No.5, Ahmed Kathrada, as having worked with the Duplicating Machine regularly.
Before the completion of Dr Yutar’s examination-in-chief of this witness is concluded, the court is adjourned until the following morning.

Sources
Dictabelts: (Vol.48/8A/19b) (Vol.48/8A/20b) (Vol.48/8A/21b) (Vol.48/8A/22b) (Vol.48/8A/23b) (Vol.48/8B/24b) (Vol.48/8B/25b) (Vol.48/8B/26b) (Vol.48/8B/27b) (Vol.48/8B/28b).
Percy Yutar Papers
Handwritten notes from the prosecution for 5th December, 1963 (Ms.385/36/7).
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 record of Witnesses (AD1844.A6.1).

Key Words
State Witnesses, Liliesleaf Farmworkers, Rivonia, police brutality, 90-day detention, Thatched Cottage.