Item Belt 12b - MP3 - Thomas Mashifana [Mashifani] XD

The previous day’s activities continued on Wednesday 4th December, with Mr Bizos of the defence team re-calling two state witnesses for further cross-examination. Thereafter, Dr Yutar called four new state witnesses for examination. As with the day before, the prosecution’s examination of witnesses was primarily concerned with the identification of persons who visited or resided at Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia, and what their respective activities were prior to the police raid on 11th July, 1963.

Witnesses Called

2nd State Witness: Enith Kopani – House-worker, Rivonia. (Recalled).
Cross-examination by Mr Bizos continued.

The primary purpose of recalling Enith Kopani for further cross-examination seems to have been to highlight that her recollections of the timeframe during which certain of the accused visited or stayed at Liliesleaf Farm could well be inaccurate. In his questioning of the witness, Mr Bizos exposed that the statements made by Enith Kopani to the police and to the court could be inaccurate by up to as much as two months.

No re-examination requested by the prosecution.
3rd State Witness: Solomon Sepedi – House-worker, Rivonia. (Recalled).
Cross-examination by Mr Bizos.
The brief cross-examination of Solomon Sepedi mirrors that of Enith Kopani on 3rd December, 1963. Mr Bizos line of questioning focused on the conditions under which Solomon Sepedi had been detained and required to give statements since his arrest on the 11th of July, 1963.
No re-examination requested by the prosecution.
4th State Witness: Thomas Mashifana [Mashifani] – Farmworker, Rivonia.
Examination-in-chief by Dr Yutar.
Thomas Mashifana was employed by Arthur Goldreich to work on the land at Liliesleaf Farm in 1961. He stated that ‘David’ (Nelson Mandela) had stayed on the farm, reading books and papers, since the time he first arrived at Liliesleaf. The only other activity he had seen ‘David’ engage in, was shooting a hunting rifle with Arthur Goldreich one day.
Thomas Mashifana claimed that after the “old European man” called Jeramiah (also Jelliman) moved out of the Thatched Cottage in January, 1962, no-one moved in until 1963 – the year of the arrests. He also claimed that it was only ‘bantu’ people, and no Europeans, who visited Nelson Mandela in his room.

The witness went on to describe, through Exhibit D and Exhibit B, what he knew of the time spent by Accused Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 at Liliesleaf Farm. As was the case with the two previous state witnesses (Kopani and Sepedi), Thomas Mashifana claimed not to have known Accused Nos. 9 and 10, Elias Motsoaledi and Andrew Mlangeni, and he made no mention of Accused No. 8, James Kantor, at all. The witness also identified Bob Hepple from photo 16 of Exhibit B, as a frequent visitor to both the Main House and the Thatched Cottage.

After Dr Yutar had completed his questioning, Mr Bizos requested that cross-examination of this witness be held-over until the following Monday on the grounds that his senior colleague, Mr Berrange, was absent from the court attending to another part-heard matter. Moreover, that he, Mr Berrange, was only to return on Monday, and wished to cross-examine the witness then. In response to this request, Dr Yutar argued that the police were not keen to continue holding witnesses in protected custody, and that “if the witness were to be released until Monday we would not see him here on Monday”. Judge De Wet agreed with Dr Yutar’s arguments and ordered that the cross-examination be held over until the next morning only.

Cross-examination is reserved.
5th State Witness: Valeloo Percival Jelliman – European Farmworker, Rivonia.
Examination-in-chief by Dr Yutar.
Dr Yutar first questioned Valeloo Jelliman about his political leanings and previous membership of an organisation called Friends of Soviet Russia. Valeloo Jelliman admitted to having attended lectures and meetings associated with the Friends of Soviet Russia and to being a member of the organisation. However, he strongly denied being a member of the Communist Party. Valeloo Jelliman identified Michael Harmel, Lionel Bernstein, Joe Slovo, and Father Huddleston, as people he interacted with as a member of the Friends of Soviet Russies, and makes the point that not all of them were communists.

As Valeloo Jelliman’s eyesight was particularly poor, he was asked to walk along the dock and identify any of the accused he recognised. The only person he recognised was Accused No.6, Lionel Bernstein. In October, 1961, Valeloo Jelliman received a letter from the offices of the New Age newspaper and, although he could not recall who signed it, it lead to his visiting Johannesburg and meeting with Michael Harmel. During this meeting, Valeloo Jelliman was engaged as caretaker of the house at Rivonia Liliesleaf Farm. Valeloo Jelliman states that he believed that Michael Harmel hired him purely because he was a regular contributor to newspapers such as Advance, New Age, and Spark, and as such, he was considered a trustworthy person.

Valeloo Jelliman only stayed in employment until February 1962 and did not provide any other significant evidence regarding the political activities taking place on Liliesleaf Farm during or after his time there.

Cross-examination reserved until the next day.
6th State Witness: Joseph Mashifana [Mashifane/Mashiyana/Mashipane] – Farmworker, Rivonia.
Examination-in-chief by Dr Yutar.
Joseph Mashifana was the son of the fourth witness called by the state, Thomas Mashifana. He was brought to Rivonia on the 11th of March, 1962, and was employed as a farmworker. His testimony mirrored that of the abovementioned house and farm workers brought to court as state witnesses. By this stage of the proceedings, Mr Bizos had risen on at least four occasions in order to object, unsuccessfully, to what he perceived to be leading questions put to the witnesses by Dr Yutar.

During Joseph Mashifana’s examination-in-chief, Dr Yutar asked the witness if he could identify the person in photo 12 of Exhibit D, “whose fingerprints was found in that room…”. Following this question, an interaction between Judge De Wet and Mr Bizos took place. It is noteworthy because to illuminates the extent to which Judge De Wet’s consistently perceived Mr Bizos’ interventions and objections as timewasting, obvious, and seemingly frustrating distractions during the first week of the trial. Before the witness could answer the question, Mr Bizos said, “I must again raise this my lord, it’s no concern of this witness…”

“It is formally the lead of evidence, Mr Bizos”, interrupted Judge De Wet.

“But my lord, the witness is being told that the fingerprints of this person have been found in the room…”

“We properly understand English, the Court was told that”, snapped Judge De Wet irritably.

Thereafter, Mr Bizos no longer attempted to justify his position and sat back down. Joseph Mashifana did not recognise the person in photo 12 of Exhibit D. The remainder of his xamination-in-chief concerned the topics of the erection of poles and wires, as well as the creation of a new road, at Liliesleaf Farm.

Cross-examination reserved.
7th State Witness: Phillip Nkosi Mokolo – Farmworker, Rivonia.
Examination-in-chief by Dr Yutar.
Phillip Mokolo was recruited by Thomas Mashifana and Percival Jelliman in 1962, as a farmworker at Liliesleaf Farm. His examination-in-chief was brief in comparison to the witnesses who preceded him. Interestingly, during his examination-in-chief Phillip Mokolo was sure that the person depicted in photo No.3 of Exhibit D was Accused No.8, James Kantor.
Cross-examination by Mr John Coaker (for Accused No.8, James Kantor).
Mr Coaker’s cross-examination of this witness was based on one issue alone – the false identification of James Kantor as the person depicted in photo No.3 of Exhibit D. Phillip Mokolo was convinced that the man in the photo (Denis Goldberg) was the eighth man sitting in the dock, because the two had the exact same beard. When asked by Mr Coaker if he could identify the person in photograph No.8 of Exhibit D, Phillip Mokolo responded that this was not the same man and that he did not know him.
8th State Witness: Rasmus Makula – Farmworker, Rivonia.
Examination-in-chief by Dr Yutar.
Rasmus Makula was employed as a farmworker at Rivonia in November, 1961. His examination-in-chief was similar to that of the other Liliesleaf workers.
Like Valeloo Jelliman, Rasmus Makula was asked to walk down the bench and point out anyone he recognised as having visited or resided at Liliesleaf Farm. Rasmus Makula identified Accused Nos. 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. Unlike, the previous witnesses, however, Rasmus Makula claimed that he had seen Accused No.8, James Kantor, at Rivonia a number of days before the arrests on 11th July, 1963.

Cross-examination is reserved and court is adjourned until 10:00 am the following morning.

Sources
Dictabelts: (Vol.48/7A/10b) (Vol.48/7A/11b) (Vol.48/7A/12b) (Vol.48/7A/13b) (Vol.48/7A/14b) (Vol.48/7A/15b) (Vol.48/7B/16) (Vol.48/7B/17b) (Vol.48/7B/18b).

Percy Yutar Papers
Handwritten notes from the prosecution for 4th 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).
Court Records of Evidence given by Joseph Mashifane and V P Jelliman (MS.385/2).
WITS Historical Papers
Defence Team’s abridged record of Witnesses (AD1844.A6.1).
Annotated copy of court transcription on Evidence: J Mashipane (AD1844.A11.1).

Key Words
State Witnesses, Liliesleaf Farmworkers, Rivonia, Thatched Cottage, 90-day detentions, Michael Harmel, Bob Hepple.