1964

We all agree that Mandela will have to be our chief witness. He had been first among equals in founding MK and its first commander in chief. He could only give evidence on the facts surrounding its formation but not on events after the beginning of 1962 when he had been on a mission abroad before being arrested and imprisoned. He has no first-hand knowledge of that period, which includes most of the acts of sabotage, or of the circumstances surrounding the crucial Operation Mayibuye. There are others who can account adequately for the founding of MK as well as the later period. Would it not be sensible for Mandela to leave to them the responsibility for things he could not have influenced even had he wanted to?

Nelson will have none of it. I am not surprised. As long as I have known him he has acted on the principle that leaders have no special privileges but have special obligations and duties greater than those of others. He rejects any special protection and insists on his responsibilities as titular head of MK. He will explain the ANC and its role in respect of MK, and defend them both in court. He will take on the full fury of the state attack, it is the obligation that falls on a leader. He puts his argument forcefully, and everyone – lawyers and accused – concedes that he is right.

We are determined that the defence case must be designed to give maximum publicity to our political aims and purposes. The origins of the armed struggle, which have been suppressed by censorship and repression, must be heard loud and clear around the country.

It is difficult, almost impossible, to give a clear, coherent account from the witness stand, where facts trickle out in fragments, separated by the formalism of question and answer. That cannot be good enough. We have to find another way. The only alternative is that a statement which cannot be interrupted for questioning be made from the dock. Such statements, untested through cross-examination, carry little weight with the courts. They are usually the last resort of a hopeless defence.