While serving a five-year sentence imposed in 1962, Nelson Mandela was transferred by prison authorities from Pretoria to Robben Island—months before the Rivonia arrests—placing him under harsher, more isolated conditions.
Mandela was transferred back to Pretoria after a brief period on Robben Island. This positioned him to be held for the forthcoming Rivonia proceedings after the July 1963 raid.
South African Security Police raided Liliesleaf Farm, a key underground meeting place associated with uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), arresting several leading anti-apartheid activists and seizing documents that became central trial evidence.
The UN Security Council adopted Resolution 181, calling on states to voluntarily cease the sale and shipment of arms and related matériel to South Africa amid escalating apartheid repression.
After detention under security legislation, Denis Goldberg and others arrested at Liliesleaf were formally charged with offences under the Sabotage Act—an important procedural step leading into the Rivonia Trial.
Proceedings in what became known as the Rivonia Trial began in Pretoria. Defendants faced charges including sabotage and related conspiracy allegations tied to MK’s underground activities.
The Security Council adopted Resolution 182, renewing pressure on South Africa to comply with prior UN demands related to apartheid and calling for further UN examination of the situation.
At the opening of the defence case, Mandela gave his three-hour statement from the dock—later widely known as “I Am Prepared to Die”—framing the struggle against apartheid and explaining the turn to sabotage as a strategy.
Justice Quartus de Wet convicted Mandela and seven co-accused at the conclusion of the Rivonia Trial. The convictions, centered on sabotage and related charges, removed much of the ANC/MK internal leadership from public political life.
Mandela and seven co-defendants were sentenced to life imprisonment rather than the death penalty. (Lionel Bernstein was acquitted.) The sentences marked a decisive escalation in apartheid-era political imprisonment.
Mandela and several co-accused (including Sisulu, Mbeki, Mhlaba, Kathrada, Motsoaledi and Mlangeni) were transferred to begin serving life sentences on Robben Island; Denis Goldberg, classified as white, was held at Pretoria Central Prison instead.
Following the Rivonia convictions and sentencing, Mandela’s incarceration on Robben Island became the core period of his imprisonment (1964–1982), during which political prisoners endured strict controls and hard labor while remaining symbols of resistance.
Rivonia Trial and Imprisonment of ANC Leaders (1963–1964)
